Protectors
by Laurarokks
Summary: Tiffany, a three year old toddler, is taken from her home to be used in an evil plot against Palutena and the angels. Once she's a teenager will she want to help them out or will she want to return home as if this never happened? No flaming!
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Here are a few important facts that you must know before reading:

Setting: Palutena's Palace (in the past)*

*Things to know: This galaxy's time goes by much slower than ours. So when they say "5 years," it's really about 20 years in our world. It's a huge complicated math problem, I know, but somehow I managed to make it work . . . . I think. Ya know what? How about none of us think about it and we just go with whatever my weird mind comes up with. I like that idea. :)

**Events that happened before the prologue started** - guards are all fighting outside of the palace, defending it from the ambush that had just started. Pit realizes that no one was inside protecting Palutena. He runs inside to find three demons, a human girl, and Palutena by themselves.

Characters (so far):

Ahriman = evil demon leader (new demon species that none of the angels knew about)

Akhos = demon leader's main minion

other minion = other minion

Palutena = Goddess of Light

Pit = captain of Palutena's army

Tiffany = OC

* * *

"How could you do this to her! She is just a child!" Palutena was furious that Ahriman would go to such great lengths just to get his way. Yes he was evil, but who knew that he had the ability to travel between worlds? The poor girl standing next to the threatening demon looked bewildered. She had no idea what she was put in the middle of.

"Oh, Palutena. You still don't understand me do you?" Ahriman asked while pacing the room, with the little girl in tow. "You see, I've been patient, waiting for the right time to strike you down. Now that I have finally gotten my chance, I am not going to let it slip away because you don't want this girl to interfere," he proclaimed while raising his hand that held the girl's wrist. She yelped as she was lifted off the ground temporarily by one arm. Noticing this, Ahriman put her back on solid ground. After all, he didn't want his plan to be ruined.

Palutena was starting to lose her patience with him. "So what is it that you want? I presume you have brought her here for negotiation purposes, yes?"

Ahriman grinned, showing his sharp white teeth. "That is correct, Goddess of Light," he said while bowing in a cocky way, showing that he didn't care what her status was. "My negotiation is simple really. If you allow me to kill you off, I'll let the human go. Otherwise you can run out of here freely with that captain of yours, while I slay this child. It's your call, but let me warn you. Her God probably wouldn't be too happy if one of his own was killed because of your selfish acts." With that said, he tossed the little girl over to his minions who began setting up her demise.

By this point Palutena felt like her head was going to explode. She couldn't allow this young girl to be killed. Especially since she is from a different world that probably has a very strong God. But Palutena had to think about her angels as well. Without her leadership, they would be blindly led for centuries. If they could last that long on their own. Palutena was frustrated with Ahriman.

"Palutena?" asked a quiet voice from her side. "What are you going to do?" Palutena looked down at her young captain, Pit, with sadness in her eyes. "I'm afraid he has me beat Pit. There's only one thing I can do."

"No! You can't give yourself up just like that!" Pit shouted. "Palutena, please. We need you." Pit begged for her not to do this, but her mind was set. There was no turning back now.

"Ahriman, I will agree to your negotiation if you make one minor change."

"And what might this 'small' change be?" He asked amusedly.

"I will let you take me, but you must let the girl go and leave Angel Land alone as well." She hoped this would work. If not, her efforts were in vain.

". . . . Fine, but we'll just see how well your children do by themselves. Without your leadership their peaceful way of life will become corrupt. But I would just like to make myself clear. The only way I'll make this a deal is if I can return to Angel Land in 5 years to crown myself king."

Palutena wasn't sure whether or not if she should agree to this. Ahriman does look like the deceiving type of demon after all. He could get tired of waiting and come back before the 5 year time limit was up. "I accept." Pit gasped when he heard this. He couldn't believe that his goddess was giving up so easily. She must be up to something. "But first, may I speak to the child?"

"Sure, if that is your final request then I will gladly make it happen. Guards, let her go." With no delay, Ahriman's men led the girl over to Palutena and Pit. Once there they let her go and walked back to their master, leaving the girl and the goddess in privacy.

Palutena got down on one knee so that she could be eye level with the girl. That way, she'd get a better look at the life she was saving. The girl appeared to be a three year old toddler. Her hair was a light brown, almost blonde color. It was put up partially and tied at the top with a little pink bow. Her outfit was a black and white polka dot dress with a pink and yellow bow tied onto the shoulder. The sight of this girl made Palutena feel happy. "Child, what is your name?" she asked with a sincere smile.

At first, the girl looked like she was going to cry. Her hazel eyes got red and watery. "Tiffany," she replied with a sniffle. "Where am I?"

"You are in Angel Land, but don't worry. We'll send you back home to your parents, alright?"

"Okay. You're really pretty," Tiffany said with a smile while placing her finger on Palutena's nose. The gesture almost made Palutena lose it.

"Thank you Tiffany. You are very kind." Then Palutena got closer to Tiffany's ear and whispered, "I'm going to give you a gift. It is a part of me. My spirit. I'm giving it to you so that I will live on. Maybe someday you'll return here and I may be brought back again. Do not tell anyone of this, or you will be killed. Do you understand?" The toddler quickly nodded in response. With her point being made, Palutena whispered some words that no human could ever translate and blew a puff of air into Tiffany's face. A white powder floated into the child's mouth but wasn't seen by anybody. Their secret would never be known.

Palutena looked up at her captain and saw that he was desperately trying to hold back tears. He was facing a different wall but Palutena could tell that he was upset. She gracefully got back up on her two feet. "Pit, I need you to do something for me." Hearing his goddess calling for him he turned around and faced her with puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks. "When you get back to the main hall, I need you to form a council of angels that will work cooperatively with each other. Those angels will be everyone's new leaders. They will take on their own duties and keep the peace in Angel Land. I'll start you off by making you the leader of the army since you already are."

"Anything for you, Palutena," Pit said while bowing in respect to his Goddess.

Unexpectedly, Ahriman's guards came up to Palutena and grabbed her forcefully by her arms. She was dragged over to where they had originally had Tiffany standing. Their contraption that they had been building was now complete. It looked like a portal but Palutena couldn't tell. She had never seen a portal look like that before. "Wait!" she shouted while turning around to see Ahriman with a surprised look on his face. "Before I go I want to make sure that you send Tiffany home safely. I wouldn't want you to break our deal."

"Of course. Akhos if you would." The minion named Akhos went over to a wall, said some unrecognizable words, and then slammed a palm to the bricks. A wave of energy swirled into the wall, causing it to look rippled. Out of nowhere, a light formed in the middle and grew in size with every second. Soon enough, there was a portal leading to a brown house on top of a hill.

Tiffany looked excited and shouted, "Home!" Akhos quickly picked her up and threw her into the portal. She gasped as she went through the portal, and landed on a patch of green grass where she was heard making an "Ugh!" sound. On the other side, she looked unharmed and happy to be home again. She was running up the driveway to her house when the portal disappeared.

Palutena was glad that she was safe. Since Tiffany made it home, that meant that the little piece of herself that she gave to her would live on. With that final thought on her mind, she walked into the vortex in front of her and disappeared from view. Palutena had been disintegrated from existence.

"Well, now that the dirty work is done. I believe that it is time for us to go." As Ahriman and his men headed for the door at the front of the throne room, they passed a sobbing Pit. Ahriman gracefully walked up to Pit, whose head hung low in grief. He quietly put his lips near Pit's left ear and stated in a dark low voice, "I'll be back in 5 years." The sound of it sent chills down Pit's spine. Ahriman's men held the door open for their master, who laughed evilly on his way out. The two remaining demons closed the doors to leave Pit alone to grieve for the loss of his goddess.

"This can't be happening," Pit whispered in the cold emptiness of the room.

* * *

**Author notes: okay I know this sounds like a super depressing story, but trust me I have come up with the whole thing already. I know how it is going to end, and it will be happy. It will not be some romance novel, or an emo sort of thing where there's no comedy (I do love comedy, but I suck at making it). To end this rather long prologue, THIS STORY WILL NOT BE SUPER DEPRESSING! Or at least I'm hoping not. :)**

**I'd like to add just one more note too. This is one of those stories that will start off boring, and eventually get better. I believe that stories should always be in this format:**

**Prologue = good so that people get interested.**

**Early Chapters = sucky because they have to describe the characters.**

**Middle Chapters = a bit more action and/or drama because...well...the climax is coming!**

**Ending Chapters = amazing and/or depressing because either "the story is ending" :) or "THE STORY IS ENDING!" :'(**

**Epilogue = good so that people know what happens after the story. (Not sure if I'm gonna do an epilogue though. I wasn't really planning on it. I'll just have to see how the story turns out.)**

**Enough of my rambling. Review! Read on!**


	2. Chapter 1  The Beginning

***Protectors***

Chapter 1 – The Beginning

It is said that in ancient times, people were chosen to defend the galaxies. But these people are not your normal, everyday humans. Oh no, they were far from that. These people had abilities beyond your wildest dreams. Some had the ability to move objects telepathically. Others could control a single element of nature, like fire or water, while a few could read minds and see the future. This is the story about me and how I found out that one event changed me into one of these protectors.

"Tiff . . ." said my mom, "are ya going to get up for school?"

"Mom just five more minutes, please?" I said. "I'm really tired." My mom just stood there and looked at me with a frown on her face.

"Well if you would just go to bed at a decent time then you wouldn't have this problem." As she turned around to start walking down the hallway she turned back to my doorway and said, "Oh and hey, Tiffany? Could you curl your hair today? I love it when you do your hair like that. You look so pretty."

"But mom," I said. "That takes too long and I'll never have time to do that before I leave for school."

"Fine, but you had better get up now then or you WILL be late to school no matter what you do to your hair," said my mom.

"Okay I will . . . . In a couple more minutes," I said with a smile on my face.

"Whatever," she said. "Just make sure that you're up and ready for school."

If you haven't figured it out by now, my name is Tiffany. I live in a small town in rural Wisconsin. I am a Junior in high school, so that means I am 16 years old. I have long dark brown hair, and eyes that change color depending on the outfit I am wearing. Basically I look like my mom (except she has wrinkles).

Exactly as I said, in a couple of minutes I was up and out of bed. I was a little groggy, but I was awake enough to get myself to the bathroom down the hall to brush my teeth. As soon as I walked back into my room I kind of felt a little bit depressed. The reason for this is probably because of my room's color scheme. It is the ugliest combination of gray and wood that you could ever imagine. The walls are a light grey color and the floor is a dark gray carpet. As for the wood, that is pretty much everything else: the borders of my walls, the doors, the windowsill, and also my desk, dresser, bookcase, and headboard. In fact the only color in my room would be my bed sheets, which are pink dots on one side and musical notes on the other, and a poster of puppies with pink flowers that I got for Christmas two years ago. If anything I probably have the most boring room in the whole house. Literally, even my parents' room has more flair to it than mine ever would.

Speaking of my parents, I think I have the funniest couple of parents in the world. I always have a story about my folks acting ridiculous no matter where it is. But of course every parent has a mean side. Oh well, that's just a part of life I guess.

Anyways, back to the story. After I got ready for school, my brother and I headed out to the car in the garage.

"Bella!" my brother, Tyler, said. "How are you?" Bella just looked at him with that always cute face of hers. She is a Yorkshire terrier puppy that is now one year old.

"Come on Tyler, we gotta go," I said.

"Okay," said Ty. "Bye Bella!"

"Ruff ruff!" was all Bella could say, or in her case bark, before we shut the door and headed out for school.

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**Yay! First chapter! I'm actually getting somewhere now, although this story may not get updated for a little while. This is due to school and other situations that I can't control. Sorry about it being super short, (especially compared to the prologue) but this is just an opening chapter. This chapters only purpose was to inform you on who Tiffany is. I'm sorry if it contains to much detail, but I know that when I read a story I like to see what the writer was picturing. With that said, see ya next time!**


	3. Chapter 2  Something's Out There

Chapter 2 – Something's Out There

**Author Note: Before I get started I'd just like to say that the first part of this chapter is going to explain my view of how Nintendo works. Yeah I know, pretty geeky, but it has to be done otherwise no one will understand what is happening. Some of this info may help you to understand future stories that I write. Just thought I'd let you know, when I wrote this chapter I had Super Mario Galaxy going through my head. Feel free to laugh.**

**P.S. Thank you to everyone who has read my story so far! I honestly didn't think people would read it. Yay! Thanks for proving me wrong guys. Okay I'll be quiet now.**

* * *

While life in the Milky Way Galaxy is going through the same old routine, other galaxies are not so lucky. There is one galaxy where evil never rests and events are always taking place. This galaxy is commonly called the Nintendo Galaxy. It is filled with beings similar to humans on Earth. However it is also filled with many animals/creatures that no human could ever understand.

This galaxy contains fewer planets than ours, but each planet has a distinct look to it. Some of these planets include: _Hyrule_, _The Mushroom Kingdom_, _Dreamland_, and _Angel Land_. Other sorts of people however do not belong to a specific planet and perform their duties (or jobs) in space.

The one planet that has had the most prosperous time without something going awry is Angel Land. This planet is populated by three different kinds of beings. The first is angels and they live in Skyworld. They pretty much look like humans with wings, but some are older. These older angels are called "The Elders."

The second type of beings are humans. They reside in the Overworld. They look like us except they live in a Greek world where everyone wears togas. For us this would be like an all day toga party in college.

Then there is the third type called demons. These demons live in the Underworld and come in many forms. Since the demons are evolving constantly, the angels never know what to expect when fighting against one. But lately the angels haven't fought with them.

Yep, everyone in Angel Land seems to be getting along with each other. There hasn't been anything going on for about five years now (in case you already forgot, time in Angel Land moves a lot slower than it does here on Earth; Five years in Angel Land is 20 years here). But then again, in the Nintendo Galaxy, always expect the unexpected. You never know when something evil is just around the corner.

* * *

"Alright you two behave and don't run off okay?" said the mother of two twin children.

"Okay mom," said both of the twins, Adelphos and Adelpha, in unison. As their mom shut the door, the two ran off towards their favorite playground.

Adelphos, the brother, is an eight year old boy who is very adventurous and hates doing the same thing over and over again. He has a brown mop of hair, and green eyes. His body is lean and thin. After all he does love sports.

Adelpha, the sister, is an eight year old girl that always follows the rules but hates being left alone. She is the exact opposite of her brother, except for looks. She loves to read, which makes her super smart compared to her brother. Her hair is more dark brown than her brother's, and her eyes are also green. Both kids are wearing white togas, with Greek-style sandals.

"Adelpha, I don't know about you but I think swinging on here has gotten pretty old."

"Adelphos, not this again. You always bring this up every day," said Adelpha with a grieved look on her face.

"Yeah," Adelphos began, "but today I have a fun new idea! I can't believe I didn't come up with this before." He looked pleased with himself.

"Okay, I'll humor you, what is it?" asked Adelpha.

"Well ya know how the older people in the village keep saying that we shouldn't go outside the city limits? That's my whole plan! We'll prove to them that there's nothing to be afraid of out there," he said as he jumped off the swing. "All we are going to do is walk into the woods and then walk right back out."

"Sorry Adelphos, but I'm staying here. Mom said not to run off and I don't plan on breaking the rules now." Adelphos looked at her with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, after years of sucking up to mom and dad? I didn't think so. That's why I don't mind going alone. I'll just end up being the hero of the family while you'll be the wimp that followed the rules." With that said he started his long walk towards the North Woods.

Adelpha sat there for a few seconds wondering what she should do. Should she go get her mom and tell her what Adelphos is doing? Or should she follow her brother into the woods and get him out by herself? She remembered what Adelphos told her a little bit ago about being the wimp in the family because she follows the rules.

"Adelphos, wait up!" Adelpha hoped she wasn't making a huge mistake with her decision to go with him. Adelphos was waiting for her at the entrance to the woods.

"I knew you wouldn't back down on this plan," he said with a smile.

"Yeah well if anything in there is too scary for me, then I am running back home," said Adelpha.

"Whatever," Adelphos proclaimed. "Let's go!" After that, they held each other's hands and ran into the woods.

As they got farther into the woods, they noticed the climate around them was changing. It got darker and wetter. The trees had moss growing on them and the plants looked like they had come straight from a jungle. Through all of this foliage, the two kids managed to reach an opening in the forest. There they had seen boulders, the dirt covered ground, and a cave.

"Whoa! Would'ja look at that," Adelphos said to his sister in glee. Adelpha knew what was coming next.

"Adelphos don't even think about it. It's bad enough that we left town, but now you want us to get killed? I don't think so. This is where I leave." With her point being made, Adelpha turned around and started heading back the way that they came. After a couple of steps, she heard leaves rustling in a bush just a few feet away from her.

"Ah!" Adelpha shrieked. She ran to her brother's side starting to cry. "Adelphos I heard something over there!"

"Adelpha," he began, "you're just making stuff up to scare me. Well you know what? It's not gonna work." Just after he said that, there was a loud snarl coming from a bush just to their left.

"Don't tell me you didn't hear that," Adelpha whined.

"Help me."

"Huh, who's there?" asked Adelphos bravely. Deep down he was afraid, but he didn't want his sister to know that. The bush rustled again but this time the figure that made the sound came crawling out. It looked like a human man. He had black hair and pale white skin. He wore a black trench coat, and long black pants. The twins looked at him like he came from a different world, but they both knew that he needed help since he looked weak.

The man crawled towards the twins and got closer until he was just three feet away. Then he whispered, "Hungry." Adelphos looked at him confused.

"What did you say?"

"Hungry," the man repeated himself. This time with more energy. Adelpha heard this outburst and knew she could help.

"Hey, I saw an apple tree right over there. Let me go get an apple for you." As she casually walked over to the apple tree, the man was staring at the dirt on the forest floor. She grinned as she picked up a tasty looking red apple and brought it over to him. When Adelpha was about to hand the apple to him, the man looked up at her. She looked at his face in shock. He had eyes as black as night and teeth that looked dangerously sharp.

"Adelpha!" shouted Adelphos. "Get away from him!" Adelphos warned his sister a little too late. The man sprang up on her and bit into her neck.

The little girl screamed, "Let go, let go! Adelphos! Help!" Adelphos grabbed a big stick and started whacking the monster on the head, but it did no good. The fake human threw the little girl towards a tree, and snapped his neck back towards Adelphos. The boy twin gulped as he saw those black eyes.

"Stay back!" Adelphos shouted shakily. The man got up on his two legs and walked over to Adelphos in a creepy way that made Adelphos block himself with his stick. He backed up as much as he could until his back suddenly bumped into a tree. When the man was close enough to him, he grabbed the stick from Adelphos and picked him up by the collar on his toga. "Up close this man doesn't even look human anymore," Adelphos thought to himself. "In fact he looks like a . . ." The man smiled showing his sharp teeth. "DEMON!"

Adelphos could only scream before his vision suddenly went black.

* * *

**Yeah as you could probably tell, I'm not good at fight scenes. This chapter was very long and contained lots of information, so if you're confused I don't blame you. Well that's all for this weekend but I hope to get another chapter up really soon. Until next time, peace out!**


	4. Chapter 3  The First Sign

Chapter 3 – The First Sign

Tiffany's P.O.V.

"Hey Chelsey, are you going to Pizza Hut with us?" I asked my sister. Chelsey is my sister who happens to look a lot like me even though she is three years older. She is a freshman at college and happened to be home this weekend. She was lying down on her bed watching TV.

"Yeah, and Jimmy's coming too," she replied. Jimmy is Chelsey's boyfriend. They've been dating since the eighth grade (they are both the same age). So that's about five years now. Wow, talk about a commitment.

After I told Chelsey about our plans for supper tonight, I went into my room to get ready to go in a half an hour. I looked at the clock on my bed's headboard which read "5:30pm". "Wow, I'd better hurry or else Mom's gonna get mad again," I said to myself sarcastically.

Quickly, I went into my walk-in closet and grabbed my make-up bag. While rummaging through all of the makeup I managed to find the shade of brown eye shadow that I was looking for. Then I grabbed my mascara and eyeliner and made a beeline to the bathroom.

When I was ready to put on my mascara, I looked up at the mirror in shock. All I could say was, "Whoa." My eyes looked extremely green which is odd because my eyes are normally hazel. But then again my eyes do change color and I was wearing a green shirt so I thought nothing of it.

After I put on my makeup and pulled my hair up partially, I grabbed my purse and ran down the stairs. My mom was sitting on the couch waiting. "Hey look Mom," I told her while holding my arms out like I was about to hug her. "Now I don't have to hear you yell at me again!" I cheered happily. My mom's face went from happy to pleased.

"Hey now," she said laughing. "I wouldn't have had to yell at you this morning if you'd actually gotten up for school."

"I didn't want to get out of bed since you were getting physical."

"Me kicking your bed does not mean I was getting physical. I was doing that so you would wake up." It's true, even my alarm clock couldn't wake me up.

"What can I say? I'm a heavy sleeper."

"Well apparently not heavy enough. When I kicked your mattress for the fifth time, you flew off the bed with it." She smiled and started to laugh really hard.

"And I woke up. You did such a nice job Mom," I replied while smiling and patting her on the back.

"So are you ready to go?" she asked, changing the subject.

"No, I still have to get my coat and shoes on." I really wanted to get going so I headed over to the coat closet and grabbed my shoes and coat.

My mom got up from the couch and walked over to the bottom of the stairs. "Chelsey! Are ya done yet?" Okay that's it. There's no denying it. Yelling really is her favorite thing to do.

I could finally hear Chelsey running down the stairs. "Yeah, and Jimmy just got here too so we can leave now." She smiled as she walked past Mom to go get her shoes and coat on. "Isn't Tyler coming with us?"

"Yes. He's already sitting out in the truck," my mom replied. She sounded pretty frustrated. I'm guessing it's because Jimmy is coming with us. Even from the beginning, she never did like him.

Once everyone got into my mom's black Trailblazer we were ready to go. My mom pulled out of the driveway, shut the garage door, and took off down the road. Since I knew this was going to be a little bit of a drive, I took out my iPod and found the song that I felt like listening to at the moment – So Obvious by Runner Runner. I pressed play, and slunk down into my seat (which happened to be shotgun since I didn't want to be in the back seat with my sister and her boyfriend).

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes to see that we were surrounded by snow, cornfields, and hills covered in snow. To my surprise I didn't even know that I could fall asleep that fast. We'd only been on the road for ten minutes.

"Tiffany? Are you okay? You're not sick are you?" My mom sounded worried about me. Why? All I did was fall asleep for a little bit. Besides shouldn't she be focusing on the –

"Mom! Look out! There's a pheasant!" Chelsey shouted. Of course, right there in the middle of the road there was a colorful pheasant, looking as innocent as a bird that's in the middle of the road ever could.

My mom has slow reactions, so when she finally looked away from me and towards the road, she had to act really fast. Since she is about as human as anybody, she did the one thing that almost everybody would do, and shouldn't. She swerved off the road.

Everything seemed to happen so fast. First, we were on the road. Then some bright light surrounded the Trailblazer for a short period of time. Suddenly, I felt myself jerk forward a bit and then the light dispersed. Next thing I knew, all of us were stunned as we looked through the windshield to see the post of a power line that we almost hit. I looked out of my window to see that stupid pheasant cross over the road and stop in the ditch. In one swift motion, it shifted its gaze over to our vehicle and then cocked its head to the side.

"Hey Mom, I think that bird you almost hit is mocking us," I stated, enunciating the word 'bird' like it was some disgusting creature. My mom was panicking too much to notice what I just said. Instead she kept looking in the backseat to make sure everyone was okay.

When she finally realized that everyone was fine, she said nervously, "Kids, don't tell your father about this. He already thinks I'm a bad driver. If he knew about this then that would be the icing on the cake."

Of course my brother just had to ask, "What cake?" We all stared at him.

"Really Tyler? Can't you save it for the pizza?" Chelsey asked. Jimmy was sitting next to her looking like he'd been through this whole scenario before. He had a smile on his face that he was trying really hard to hold back.

* * *

"Oh my God!" I began saying as we walked into Pizza Hut. "I thought we'd never get here alive!" I tried to sound as sarcastic as possible since my mom was probably already in a bad mood. As always my mom looked at me with a straight face saying, "Oh be quiet." But I knew deep . . . deep . . . . . very deep down, she was laughing. Who wouldn't after they almost hit a freaking pheasant?

When we sat down our waitress asked us what we wanted to drink. My mom and I both got Pepsi, my brother got Sierra Mist since it's his favorite drink, and then Chelsey and Jimmy both got Mountain Dew. After we were done, the waitress acted bubbly (kind of like our sodas) and said, "All right, I'll be back to get your order." She finished her sentence with a smile and then walked off.

"Hey Tiffany?" my mom asked me. "Is it just me or do your eyes look extremely green?" Hearing this, Chelsey had to look at me and see for herself.

"Yeah mom," she said. "Her eyes do look really green. I thought your eye color was hazel?"

I scrunched my face at her and said, "It is." The waitress came back with our pops about a minute later and asked us what we wanted. I immediately spoke up and said, "I'll get the Sausage Italiano." What can I say? I prefer pasta over pizza.

* * *

**Yes! Here's the end to another exciting (I hope) chapter. There's nothing else to say except . . . review! I really need some feedback here.**


	5. Chapter 4  The Nightmare Has Begun

Chapter 4: The Nightmare Has Begun

_**Side note:**__** keep in mind that angels do not age too quickly.**_

* * *

"Hey Raphael, do you think we will ever find those missing kids?" asked Gabriel as she flew past a cloud. She didn't want to think of anything bad happening to the human twins but she knew what Raphael's answer was going to be.

"Gabriel, I don't know. All I know is that the Angel Land Council got a message about two human children running away from home and they were never seen for almost two days now. Just don't expect to see a meadow filled with flowers, unicorns, and rainbows."

Raphael and Gabriel are two of Angel Land's angels that are in charge of investigations. So basically it's like they work for the Angel Land CSI. Raphael is a boy angel who is around 100 years old, but in reality he looks about 25 years old. He has blonde hair and blue eyes. His skin is a radiant tan like all of the other angels. After all, they do live above the clouds. Raphael's attitude on everything is depressing. He's almost never happy, but when he is nobody can ever tell.

Gabriel is almost his opposite. She is about 80 years old, but she looks like she is 21 years old instead. Gabriel has long brown wavy hair and brown eyes. She has a tan very similar to Raphael's. Her personality is very different. She tends to look at everything with hope and kindness. Both angels are wearing white togas and Greek sandals. On the togas there is an insignia of silver wings. This means they are second in rank out of all the angels. In other words, they have important jobs.

"Wait Raphael, what's that?" asked Gabriel. What she saw looked like a trail of red leading into an opening of trees near a cave.

"Looks like blood. Let's check it out," said Raphael. Gabriel had a bad feeling about this, and that's not just because she saw blood. It was also because the sky was unusually darker than normal above that area. It gave her goose bumps.

When they landed, both angels saw a horrific sight. Gabriel felt her legs give out but Raphael caught her in time before she collapsed to the ground. "Oh Palutena, who could've done such a thing?" cried Gabriel, tears forming in her eyes.

"Do you mean _who_ -?" Raphael asked while still looking at the bloody scene. He turned to face Gabriel and finished his question, "- or _what_?"

In front of them, they saw both of the twins dead. Over by a tree there was Adelpha leaning over, her head facing down towards the forest floor. There was dried blood on Adelpha's neck, around a wound that looked like someone, or "something", took a bite out of her. In her hand there was a rotting apple. Adelpha had a look of fear and pain across her face. Whatever she saw before she died, it was probably not human.

Then there was Adelphos lying on his side next to a bush. Under him, there was red grass that was stained with his blood. Whoever did this snapped Adelphos' neck, and scratched him in several places. He had a huge gash on his stomach, but the rest him was just scraped up. It was a sad sight and both angels knew what they had to do. Tell the parents.

* * *

It's the hardest thing in the world to tell a family that their kid is dead.

"Raphael, I can't do it. I won't be able to handle it." Gabriel knew the twin's parents were going to cry hysterically from this, especially since they lost two of their only kids.

"Well you're just going to have to get over it, and fast. We're here." Raphael's voice cracked a little at the end of his phrase.

When the two angels arrived at the twins' home, they slowly walked up to the doorstep. Raphael raised a closed fist and knocked on the door three times.

"Hello?" asked a very tall man. He was even taller than the angels.

"Hi, are you the father of Adelphos and Adelpha?" Gabriel asked.

"Why yes I am. Are you the angels appointed to finding my son and daughter?" he asked quizzically.

Gabriel smiled politely and said, "Yes, sir, we are. May we come in?"

"Um . . . sure, of course you may." The dad looked worried and shaken up like he almost knew that some bad news was coming.

"Thank you," Gabriel said with a sincere smile. Both angels walked into the house quietly, making sure that their wings didn't knock anything over. They looked around the house and spied a family portrait of the twins with their parents. "That's a lovely family portrait you have on the wall there," Gabriel said pointing at the painting.

The father studied her looks carefully and then replied, "Why thank you. In this household we take pride in our family." After that he gave both angels a saddening smile that almost made Gabriel cry. "Oh I almost forgot," the dad continued. "Where are my manners? I should have offered you some wine . . . or water if you prefer?"

Raphael chimed in at that point asking, "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could I have some raspberry wine?"

"Actually we'll _both_ just have some water," Gabriel declared. She didn't want to worry about taking home a loony Raphael.

"Alright, I'll be right back. You both can go sit in the living room," said the twins' dad.

"Wow," Gabriel whispered to Raphael. "This is kind of like a sick joke. We're going to be talking about death in a 'living' room. This is not going to make the news any easier to tell."

Raphael snickered when he heard her say that. Gabriel punched him in the arm and continued on by saying, "Shut it! You laughing is not going to make these poor people feel any better knowing that both of their kids are dead. In fact it's just going to make it worse." By the time Gabriel told Raphael to be quiet, he was already obeying her order, but not just because she told him to stop laughing. He was looking over her shoulder in disbelief.

_*CRASH!*_

Gabriel jumped when she heard a loud come from the entrance to the living room. She was too busy staring at Raphael's big, surprised eyes, but she knew who it was that made that sound and why. Gabriel slowly turned around towards the doorway and saw what looked like the ghost of the little girl, Adelpha. The only difference was that she was taller and older. Gabriel gasped loudly and exploded with apologies.

The mom slumped at the doorway, but was caught by her husband before she could hit the floor. "My babies! Adelphos! Adelpha! No!" she cried with her husband at her side, sobbing.

* * *

**Okay, I can pretty much guarantee that this is about as depressing as it is going to get. I'm sorry if it was bad, but I'm just going off of my imagination for this stuff. **

**This time, the next chapter won't be about Tiffany. Instead we'll be getting a closer look at how the angels are doing without Palutena. ****Hopefully it's a better chapter, and hopefully I don't procrastinate this time. See ya next time!**


	6. Chapter 5 The Angel Council

**Chapter 5: The Angel Council**

**I'm so sorry about the late update. I guess celebrating Thanksgiving two separate days during a weekend does that.**

_**Things to know:**_

The council is filled with angels that hold positions for certain issues in Angel Land (not just Skyworld). These angels include:

Salus (female) = Health

Artemas (male) = Safety

Hermione (female) = Environment

Julius (male) = Learning

Pennie (female) = Business & Marketing

Darius (male) = Finance

And of course Pit = Military/Armed Forces

* * *

Black clouds rolled off into the distance while a slightly cold wind blew through a window. It gave Pit goose bumps. "Something bad is happening down there. I can feel it," he mumbled to himself.

"Pit! Snap out of it and take your seat at the table. We have a lot to discuss," said Artemas. Pit jumped at the sudden outburst and decided it would be best to listen to him. He walked over to his chair while Artemas continued on. "As I was saying, the risks in the Overworld are rising drastically. Everyone down there is worried for the safety and well being of their children. What with this murderous crime of the two human children, Adelphos and Adelpha. Now they are all acting like chickens with their heads cut off!"

"I can see what you're saying Artemas, but that is not the only problem here," Salus stated. "The way those two were killed shows that a demon was the cause. This could mean trouble, not just for the humans, but for us as well."

"What do you mean by that?" Pit asked nervously. At that moment, Hermione stood up to speak.

"You have heard of the transformations that the demons go through, right?" Pit nodded and she continued to speak. "Well, from the way it looks, these demons have gotten much stronger and transformed into beings that have claws, razor sharp teeth, and look similar to humans."

"Hold on. How do you know what they look like?" Julius questioned her.

"Were you not paying attention when Artemas was talking about the investigation findings that his angels had come across?" Hermione snapped. "If you had been listening, you would've heard that his two search angels, Raphael and Gabriel, had found footprints near the children that look almost identical to humans." Julius looked down and mumbled a few words that sounded like he was saying "I'm sorry".

"But if they look identical to humans, then how will we be able to tell who is a demon?" Pit asked trying to break up the tension in the room.

"I suppose we could try to sense if they are a demon. We are angels Pit. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out if somebody is evil or not," Hermione concluded.

"Other than all of this hype, how is everything over there you two? You guys aren't talking a whole lot. Would you guys like to add something?" Pit asked Darius and Pennie.

"What is there to say? Everything is perfectly fine in finance world," said Darius.

"The same thing goes for the businesses. Everyone is buying and selling everything the way they normally do. Nothing has changed," Pennie added.

"Well then if we're all done discussing this issue, I'd say we can all go home. Meeting adjourned," Pit proclaimed while placing his hands flat on the table. Within a second everyone was gone from the room. Everyone except Julius that is.

"Pit," he said. "Can I talk to you about something?" Pit was still sitting in his chair thinking about all of the things that were discussed in the meeting and was caught off guard by Julius.

"Um, sure. What do you need?" Pit asked, wondering what Julius was going to talk to him about.

"Have you ever heard the legend of the 'Protectors' before?" Julius asked while looking away from Pit. Not keeping eye contact with him.

"Hmm, yeah I think I have. Isn't that the legend where humans have these amazing abilities only gods should be allowed to possess?"

"Yes, that is correct," Julius stated like a teacher. "Now I have this question for you. Do you believe in it?" When he asked this question he looked over at Pit with hope in his eyes.

"I don't know whether I should or not. That's pretty much the only information I know about the whole legend. So it wouldn't be fair to judge it based on my knowledge." Pit had never thought of this. Does he believe in it? He couldn't come up with the answer. He wanted to believe in it, especially knowing that a war could start up again while everybody in Angel Land was godless.

"Well then how about some more information. I've been studying up on this legend for quite some time and I think I may have come across a human who might possibly be a Protector. Although she is from a completely different world, she's still -"

"Wait!" Pit yelled, cutting Julius off. "I can only take so much info. So this human you're talking about is a girl and she is from a different world. What world? What does she look like? How do you know all of this?" Pit kept shoving questions down Julius' throat, but Julius didn't seem to mind. He liked to be asked questions.

"Slow down Pit, I can only take so many questions," Julius replied laughing. "Like I said, I've been studying this legend for a couple of years now. I don't really know what world this girl is from but she seems friendly."

"And how do you know that?" Pit asked, chuckling a bit.

"I think you should see for yourself." Julius walked over to the vision pool that Palutena used to watch over the humans a few years ago when she was still alive. He dipped a finger tip into the water and waited for an image to come up. Sure enough an image did start to appear. Once it was clear enough, Pit could see a girl in a moving steel contraption heading away from a large brick building. He could tell just by looking at her that she was indeed not from Angel Land. "So what are your thoughts Pit? Do you believe in the legend now?"

"Well if she is a Protector, I would like to know what kind of powers she possesses. If she has any at all. In fact she looks like any normal human. It's still hard to say Julius. I won't believe in the legend until I get some proof." Julius looked down at the floor in despair. He thought he'd just found something that no one else would have ever known about. Pit noticed Julius looking depressed and felt bad for what he'd said.

"But don't take my word for Julius. You could be right. She might just be a gifted human after all," Pit said while stealing one last glance into the vision pool before the image completely disappeared. "I wouldn't know since I didn't study this legend for a few years, whereas you did." Pit smiled to him in reassurance, hoping that Julius would feel better now. When he got a smile in return, he started heading for the door to leave.

"Thank you Pit," Julius replied. He ran up to Pit's side so that he could continue talking to Pit. Not just as a committee member, but as a friend. As soon as Pit opened the door, he felt as though someone was watching him. He stopped and looked back into the room. "What's wrong Pit?" Julius asked.

"I don't know. It feels as though something is evil inside of the room." Pit didn't want to worry his friend so he looked back at Julius with a smile again. "Don't worry about it; I'm sure I am just being paranoid." Julius shrugged off Pit's weird behavior and walked out of the room. Pit took one last look inside the room and then shut the door.

Pit wasn't going nuts though. There really was something evil in the room. Up in the corner of the ceiling, behind a pillar, there was a black bat. He was breathing heavily from almost being caught.

"That was too close. That angel is very gifted if he could read my aura from that distance. I wonder if he knew I was here the whole time. Oh well, that was some nice information that I am sure the boss will love to hear about," it said to itself. The bat creature started to laugh maniacally. He formed a portal out of spit and flapped his way through it to get back home.

* * *

**Oh the suspense. Who does this spitting-portal-making bat belong to? Maybe the next chapter will give a hint. For the record, it's a bat demon. I would hope that it is disgusting. Please review! I want to know what everyone thinks of my story, and I don't really want to guess.**

**Next chapter: Kidnapped**

**Until next time, hasta la vista . . . baby!**


	7. Chapter 6 Kidnapped

**Chapter 6: Kidnapped**

**WARNING!:**** There will be some time skips in this chapter. They will be split up with lines to make it less confusing.**

_**Things to know (if you already forgot):**_

**Tiffany's puppy is named Bella.**

**Her dad calls Bella "Todo".**

**She has a puppy poster in her room.**

**There was supposed to be a chapter on Tiffany's school life before this chapter, but when I wrote it out it got way too long. Seriously it would have taken a person an entire day to read it.**

**I've just decided that when the story is done, I will put up a fun facts page that will explain all (or most) of the small details about my story. Maybe I'll even put up that secret chapter. This way, confusion won't . . . well . . . confuse anybody. On with the story! **

"Finally!" I exclaimed. "I'm so glad I'm home. Dance practice was getting way too boring for me today." As I walked into my house, Bella came running up to me as fast as her little legs could go. I figured my dad must have let her out of her pen. So I picked her up and walked further into the house.

"Todo who's there!" my dad shouted. Yep, I was right. He did let her out.

"Me!" I shouted back happily.

"Who's me?" he exclaimed.

"Tiffany!" I said as I walked into the living room.

"Oh okay," he said with a goofy grin.

"Come on Bella. Let's go to my room," I told my puppy. The only response she gave me was wriggling around in my arms so that she could run around the house. I had to hold her still as I made my way up the steps. When we reached my bedroom, I set Bella on my bed. Then I shut my door, threw my book bag off of my shoulder and dug out my chemistry homework.

"Grrr . . . ." Bella growled.

"Bells, what's wrong?" I asked her sympathetically. She ignored me and continued to growl. I looked over at what she was growling at and noticed that it was the puppy poster. She must be afraid of the other puppies in the poster. After all, she did do the same thing with her own reflection once too.

"Bark! Bark! Bark!" Now she was barking her high pitched barks. Her little head was going back every time she did.

"Bella! That's enough! Stop it!" I yelled at her. She still ignored me. I can't work on my homework with her barking right next to me. "That's it Bella. Back to your pen!" I picked her up and brought her back downstairs to her pen.

When I got back up to my room I decided I might as well get in the shower while I still can. Otherwise my brother might beat me to it and use up all of the hot water. I'm surprised that he even takes long showers in the first place.

After getting in the shower, I went to my room to put on tomorrow's outfit (bootcut jeans, and a light blue ruched tunic). Yeah, I'm not exactly the pajamas type of girl. Then I went back to my chemistry homework, which was lying neatly on my bed where I'd left it, and began studying for the quiz tomorrow. But as soon as I started to learn something, my eyes started feeling heavy. Soon after that, I gave in and fell asleep with all of my books around me.

I woke up feeling nauseated. "Why do I feel so sick?" I asked myself. While feeling extremely drained of energy, I looked up at my alarm clock. It read "2:00 am". I noticed that the hallway light was still on, but I was just too lazy to get up and shut it off.

"Good I get to sleep a little bit more," I whispered. As I slowly started to fall asleep again, I realized that I hadn't studied for my chemistry quiz for the umpteenth time. "Ah crap," I mumbled. "Looks like I'm gonna be guessing on those questions again." With that last thought on my mind, I drifted off to sleep letting everything around me go black.

"Hehehe . . . ." I gasped and quickly opened my eyes. That sounded like someone with a very deep voice was laughing, but why? While glancing around the room, I noticed that nothing looked out of the ordinary.

"What was that?" I thought to myself. "I swear to God I just heard something!" I tried calming myself down but I kept getting the feeling that something was watching me.

As I tucked myself back into bed, I noticed a bright red light gleaming from behind the puppy poster on my wall. The light was so mysterious that it made me sit up in my bed once more.

_*Slam!_

My bedroom door was forced shut, closing out all of the light coming from the hallway. The only light that was left in my room came from my window which showed the moon shining brightly in the sky. My eyes slowly adjusted to the new lighting and as they did I noticed a dark figure making its way towards me from the door that was just slammed shut. Its red eyes bored into mine as it said, "Hello . . . protector. My name is Akhos, and you are coming with me."

**Sorry about the chapter being so short. I wanted to get another one put up for me being so slow with the last one. If it seems rushed, I can understand why. Other than that, I like this chapter. It's what brings the whole story together. The climax is building, which means more suspense (hopefully) in the upcoming chapters. **

**Next chapter: When Worlds Collide**

**See ya then!**


	8. Chapter 7 When Worlds Collide

**Chapter 7 – When Worlds Collide**

**First off, I just wanna say thank you to **_**Fairorie**_**. Why you ask? Because she gave me my first review! Woohoo!**

**And now for the recap. Last time we left off, Tiffany came face to face with Akhos (if you didn't already know, he's the same guy from the prologue). What will happen in this exciting chapter? Why action of course! Yes, you heard me right. They'll actually be doing something now.**

**WARNING!****: There are lots of details in this chapter. Tiffany does a whole bunch of thinking, so I will try to make it easier to read. This chapter may look intimidating, but please don't let that stop you from reading it! Thank you.**

**(Tiffany & Akhos)**

"Well," I began thinking to myself. "Apparently this guy is a . . . . guy because his voice is so low. But the thing I don't get is how he got in my room. My window was shut and I would've seen a shadow if he'd come in through the door. This doesn't make any sense." As Akhos was moving closer to me, I began shuddering, feeling scared to the bone. "This has to be a dream," I said audibly.

The man named Akhos laughed and said, "I'm afraid not. Now come on!" He grabbed my tiny wrist and tried to yank me out of my bed. I held on to my sheets as tightly as possible, hoping that he would just give up and leave. Instead of that, he managed to get me off of the bed, slapped his palm on my puppy poster, started chanting some words that I couldn't recognize, and caused a bright light/portal thing to form where my poster was. I began panicking and tried to pull myself away but his iron grip prevented any escape. "Whatever he is," I thought while looking at him. "He's not human."

"Let me go!" I shouted.

He stared into the light, smiled, and then said, "Okay." Then he threw me into the wall of light. Instantly, I began to feel like I as being pulled away from home . . . fast. I had to grit my teeth so that I could bare the bright colors flashing all around me. Normally I would've thought this was pretty, but since I was being kidnapped at the moment, all I could manage to do was scream like I was in a horror movie. Suddenly an even brighter white light appeared in front of me. In fact, it was so bright that it made me stop screaming.

"Am I dead?" I thought to myself. "My God I hope not! I have so many things that I wanted to do!" As I got closer to the light I realized that I was falling into it, but not straight down. Instead, it felt like I was going down a slide at a playground.

"I thought Heaven was supposed to be up, not down . . . unless if . . . I'm going to Hell." As I said this I began to panic again. "Well, holy crap! This can't be happening!" My last word echoed as I reached the end of the tunnel. After a long fall, I finally rolled through the light and landed on a patch of soft green grass. "Grass?" I began to think. I looked around at my new surroundings and saw trees, rocks, and a blue sky with some white fluffy clouds dotting the atmosphere.

"Well this definitely isn't Hell . . . so where the Hell am I?" I asked loudly.

"You're in . . . the Overworld?" the evil man said as he came out of the portal. The white light shrunk behind him until it completely disappeared. "We shouldn't have ended up here! Looks like my powers aren't working like they should. Your pathetic mortal world must have screwed them up!" he yelled while pointing at me in anger and frustration. He started kicking random rocks, and tearing at the grass in total rage. His actions made me want to laugh. Here he was trying to kidnap me, and his powers end up taking us to the wrong place. That just speaks GENIUS right there.

When he finally calmed down, he turned back to me. "It looks like you and I are walking from here."

". . . . Crap," I muttered to myself. He picked me up by my wrist and pulled me towards an eerie- looking forest.

**(Pit and Julius)**

"Pit! Pit!"

"What's wrong Julius?" Pit asked. Julius was running up to Pit with as much adrenaline as any angel could have. He happened to have just interrupted one of the angel army's training sessions.

"Pit I need to show you something. It involves," he looked around before continuing to whisper, "the legend."

"Julius, could it wait for just a few minutes? I'm teaching everyone how to -"

"Sir, there _is_ no time," Julius said sternly while interrupting Pit's reply. Pit was caught off guard. He had no idea Julius could be so demanding. Pit stared at him with surprise in his eyes. "Um . . . I'm sorry Pit, but this really is urgent."

"Everyone I will be right back," Pit shouted above everybody's talking. The crowd immediately hushed to a dead silence. "I have to go attend to some business. In the mean time, I expect everyone to continue training as if I am still here." Pit looked at them with a serious expression on his face.

Soon afterwards, he and Julius ran out of the training grounds towards the main hall.

**(Pit & Julius)**

"So what did you want to show me?"

"Okay well I was researching the legend again, and I decided to check on that girl one more time in the vision pool. When the image appeared, she was in a dark room with a man in black. One minute she was sitting down, and then the next she was standing near a portrait of some sorts that turned into a portal. She looked very scared," Julius said sadly.

"Do you think he could be one of the demons from our world?" Pit asked with concern in his voice.

"That would be my guess, especially since he is now _in _our world."

"What! Where are they?"

"That's what I wanted to tell you. They are in the North Woods in the Overworld. This doesn't look good for her. Pit you must help her at once. If he is a demon, who knows what he might do to her."

"I'm on it!" Pit shouted heroically, punching his fist into the air. He started heading for the door, but Julius stopped him.

"Pit! I think it would be faster if you just use this." He held out Palutena's bow, the sacred item that she had given to him long ago. Pit quickly ran back to Julius and grabbed the bow. "Pit, I've been testing a few things with this portal traveling that I've heard so much about and I think I may have found a way for you to do that as well." Julius held out a couple of pale-colored arrows. "I've made a few special arrows that are made up of moonlight. This light has specific properties that allow you to travel long distances. This will give you a huge advantage over any enemy you face. Now hurry Pit, take one of these arrows and shoot it at that wall over there."

Pit looked at the bright arrows, unsure what to think. Portal traveling? He'd never heard of such a thing before. If it will help him rescue this one human life then who knows what else it is capable of. Pit did just as Julius said and shot the arrow at an empty wall. Soon after it hit its mark, the arrow melded with the wall and formed a swirling vortex. Pit ran up to it, gave one last look over his shoulder at Julius, and then charged through the whirlpool of wind and color.

**(Tiffany & Akhos)**

I still can't believe the world I'm in. Everything looks so different than what it would in my own world. What's his name said that we were in the Overworld, but that doesn't sound familiar to me at all. "What's your name again?" I asked the man.

"Akhos! Now would you shut up already!" he yelled.

"Hey! Don't yell at me. I'm just trying to get answers here!"

"Oh yeah? Well I'm just trying to do my job," Akhos answered. I rolled my eyes.

"Huh, some job," I said reluctantly. Man we must've been fighting like this for hours. It feels like we've been walking around in circles this whole time. "Are you lost or something? I swear I've seen that deformed-looking rock over there about ten times now," I stated while pointing to a distant rock. I probably shouldn't have said that because now he looked pissed off.

"If you say anything like that again, I'll end up killing you myself," he said agitated. My jaw hit the ground when he said that. "Now for the last time, SHUT UP!"

"He's gonna kill me? Why! What did I do to him that was so bad?" I thought to myself. Suddenly out of nowhere a beam of light shot out from the trees and cut through Akhos' hand while burning my wrist at the same time.

I heard the flapping of wings and the voice of a kid shout, "You will do nothing of the sort!" Out from the tops of the trees came a boy who looked to be about 16, the same age as me, and he had wings. He gracefully landed 20 feet in front of us.

"An angel?" I thought. "What kind of world is this!" Akhos' grip on my wrist became painful and even harder to escape than before. He pulled me in front of him with my hands behind my back. I began gasping from the pain in my wrist. It was becoming unbearable. The angel was looking at me with a sympathetic look on his face, but for some reason he also looked happy to find me.

Akhos began hissing behind me. Now I knew he definitely wasn't human. Then he grabbed a pocket knife from his holster and held it up to my throat, ready to slit it if he ever needed to. The angel looked scared and held his bow up. When he pulled back on the string, and arrow of light formed. It seemed both magical and unreal to me.

"Na uh uh. I wouldn't do that if I were you." I could feel Akhos smirking behind me. "All the boss wanted was for this young lady to be dead, and I'm already close enough to that goal. Just by shooting that arrow will cause her death." Akhos continued to stare at the angel boy, watching his every move. While they continued to stare at each other, the angel silently put his bow down and held his hands high in the air. My guess was so that he could signify the fact that he was now weaponless.

I started remembering something that I had learned from the Tae-Kwon-Do class I took at summer school a few years back. It was a move that would work perfectly in this kind of situation. Hopefully I could remember how to do it correctly, or else . . . I'm dead.

_**~*~ ~*~/\ ~*~ ~*~**_

**Attention!: This next paragraph's actions move faster than you can read!**

First I crushed my heel into his foot, which made him to let go of my hands so that he could tend to his 'injury'. That was the exact reaction that I was hoping for. Next I heaved my elbow into his gut, causing most of the air to leave his body. As he bent over gasping in pain, I found the opportunity to finish my attack. I quickly turned around, took my two fingers (index and middle), and jabbed his eyes to cause him temporary blindness.

_**~*~ ~*~\/ ~*~ ~*~**_

"Gaah!" Akhos shouted in pain. Using my small window of opportunity, I dashed away from Akhos and headed towards the angel.

When I reached his side I said to him, "Please tell me you're the good guy here." He looked super confused. Does he not speak English? By the looks of his toga, he probably speaks Greek.

The angel guy raised an eyebrow and said, "Umm . . . yes?"

"Thank God!" I yelled. "Whatever that guy is he is not human, not friendly, and not . . . well let's face it, he's not exactly cute either." That made the angel chuckle, but it made Akhos even angrier.

"I heard that you little brat!" When I finally got a good look at him, I realized that his eyes were extremely black, his skin was pale, and when he hissed a second time I could see sharp teeth. He looked scary and very dangerous. No doubt about it. He would've killed me if he'd had the chance.

"Stay behind me," the angel ordered to me. He stepped in front of me as if to protect me from an upcoming battle. I had a feeling this wasn't going to be good.

"No problem," I replied nervously. Akhos looked ferocious. His eyes were locked on me, showing that he was ready to tear my head off. As I was watching him closely, I noticed him step forward. Next thing I knew he was running at me with lightning speed. Luckily, the angel was faster than he was. The winged boy picked up his bow and shot at Akhos, striking him in the chest. Noticing that Akhos was down, the angel seemed to grab a different kind of arrow from his toga's front pocket and shot it at a large rock next to a cave entrance.

"Come on!" he yelled. "We gotta go while we still can!" He grabbed my injured wrist. This sent a jolt of pain through my arm as I was being pulled into yet another portal.

***whistles* Longest . . . chapter . . . yet. Hopefully this makes up for the late upload.**

**Next chapter: A Kingdom in the Sky**

**Next chapter might possibly be longer than this one. So expect another late upload (but don't worry, I will get it put out here eventually). I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Please review! Until next time, peace out!**


	9. Chapter 8 A Kingdom in the Sky

**Chapter 8: A Kingdom in the Sky**

**Alrighty then. Who is ready for the longest chapter EVER! Dun dun dun….DUN! Sadly, I'm not. After this chapter I have no more chapters written up. Sure, I mean I do have a plot all made out but now I have to come up with stuff creatively and quickly instead of typing it from my notebook. Good golly gosh how is this going to turn out?**

**Ah well anyways, behold chapter 8!**

**P.S. – I've changed things up a bit. Whenever a thought is being (….um) thought, all of the words in that sentence (or fragment depending on how well I write) will be italicized. I will still state that it's a character thinking, but I just wanted to make it a little easier on the mind for everyone.**

**

* * *

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**Pit & Tiffany**

The portal was different this time. It didn't feel like I was being sucked down. Instead it felt like I was floating up. The higher we got the harder it was for me to breathe. As soon as I started gasping, the angel boy turned around with a blank expression. He obviously had no idea what was going on.

"Are we by any chance *gasp* going up really high? Like *gasp* as high as a mountain?" I asked him while catching my breath every three seconds.

"Actually," he said. Before he could finish we both saw a bright light. The angel ran towards it while dragging me with him. This light was a lot brighter than before. I had to squeeze my eyes shut and look away because it was so intense. My hair twirled around my face as a huge gust of wind blew at me.

"You can open your eyes now." I heard the angel; I just didn't want to obey him. It was still very bright and my eyes had to slowly adjusting themselves. I blinked several times until I could finally see him standing in front of me. As I looked behind him I realized that there was blue everywhere and that we were standing on . . . clouds? I gasped again from the lack of oxygen. "Are you alright?" the angel asked me.

"Where *gasp* are we?" I questioned him.

"Skyworld. Where else? Hey! You never answered my question…. and why are you catching your breath so much?"

"How about *gasp* I put it this way," I began. "I'm only human. My body has *gasp* a hard time surviving *gasp* at these heights," I proclaimed while waving my arms around.

"Hmm, that doesn't sound too good, but sadly this is the safest place for you to be at the moment. So your body is just gonna have to adjust."

". . . well that could take awhile," I mumbled to myself.

"What was that?" he asked.

I began laughing and replied, "Oh nothing *cough*cough*." It was starting to get even harder for me to breathe. "_Wow, and this is the safest place for me to be? If Akhos doesn't kill me, the lack of oxygen will_," I thought to myself. Now I was starting to feel light-headed. I fell to my knees coughing, while catching myself with my arms outstretched in front of me.

"Whoa! Hey, don't die on me! We still need you here! I have a lot of questions that need answers!"

"You _need_ me? *cough*cough* For what?" Instead of answering me, he made light appear in his hands. Then he shifted it over to his left hand and clutched it, making a closed fist. After a second he opened up his hand again. The light was now brighter and had a soft look to it. In a word, it was pretty.

"Can you roll onto your back?" he asked patiently. I nodded a little and did what he told me to do. I slowly rolled over, falling onto my back with a faint pat against the clouds. Black dots danced around in front of my eyes, so I could barely see what he was doing. He was acting so calm like he'd been trained to do…..whatever it is he's trying to do.

Quickly he got down on one knee and knelt over me. He put his hand that held the light over my mouth and nose, while placing the other one on my forehead. "Now try to breathe normally." His instructions seemed odd to me, but I did what he asked. I inhaled the air under his hand and it felt like water mixed with air going down my throat. After I started to breathe normally again, he took his hands off of me.

"I don't believe it. I'm not coughing anymore!" I yelled with a smile.

"Yep, I just gave you some artificial air to help you breathe until your body adjusts," the angel stated with a returned smile.

"Is that what that light was?"

"Yes, but I had to form it into air because of the…." He looked up at me with a thoughtful expression. "It's complicated."

I stood up gradually and asked, "I won't need you to do that again, right? Because all of that coughing made my throat hurt."

"No," answered. "You won't, but we are going to be walking for a little bit, so you never know." I scrunched my face at the thought of walking again.

"So where are we going?" I asked as we started our long walk. He turned to face me with a look of pure excitement. Whatever place we were heading to, it must be amazing.

"Angel Land!" he shouted.

"Let me guess," I began. "Angels live there." It didn't sound like a question, but he answered it anyways.

"Yep, they sure do! Maybe I'll have time to show you to some of my friends. They haven't seen a human before." He was grinning from ear to ear.

"Alright but before you introduce me to your friends, I think it's only fair you tell me your name first," I said giggling.

"Oh... Hi, I'm Pit. Captain of Palutena's army, or I used to be." He looked saddened but shook it off and continued to talk anyways. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He extended his arm for a handshake. I stood there in shock.

"My name is Tiffany," I replied as I shook his hand. "There's nothing too significant about me," I laughed. Pit looked like he was the one in shock now. "_Wonder why that is. Does he know something about me that I don't?_" I thought to myself. "So who is this Palutena?"

"You don't know her?" he asked very loudly.

"No! Why should I?" I yelled back trying to mimic him.

"I suppose not. You're not from around here." He turned away from me and looked down at the…clouds. "She is, er, was my Goddess. I was a part of her royal guard so I protected her most of the time. Whenever I was given a quest or mission, she was guarded by the others in the squad."

"Royal guard? You must be either pretty high class, or very important to this Palutena."

"I suppose so. That's what this gold pin means anyways," he said pointing at the shiny piece of metal on his toga. It didn't have too much detail to it. It was just a circular pin with a gold rim and red center. "So!" Pit broke the silence. "That move that you did against that demon was amazing! Where did you learn how to do that?"

"In Tae-Kwon-Do class, but it only lasted two weeks so I didn't learn much." I laughed. For some reason Pit was looking at me with a serious face.

"Good thing you learned that move, or else you wouldn't be here right now." He was right. When Akhos threatened to kill me, Pit looked defeated. "I had completely run out of ideas once he held that knife to your throat. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to save you. My mission would have been a failure." His mission? "_His goddess Palutena must've sent him to come get me… but why? Why am I so important to an angel and his goddess?_" I thought to myself.

"So since we are heading to Angel Land does that mean I will be meeting this goddess of yours?" I asked curiously. Pit was taking his time to answer me.

"….No, you won't. A few years ago she was killed by a demon named Ahriman. He was negotiating with her. It was over who would take control of Angel Land. Of course he wanted to, but Palutena wouldn't let him. Then he had to bring that human child into it."

"Wait, a human?"

"Yeah, a little girl. I still remember what she looked like too. She had light brown hair with a bow tying it partially together. And she had this little black and white polka dot dress with yellow and pink bows on one shoulder. Her eyes looked so big and sad. She was scared. Scared of what Ahriman would do to her. Then Palutena talked to her and got her to calm down. Palutena asked her for her name, but I'm having such a hard time trying to remember that one detail. Gah! Why can't I remember?" he yelled to himself.

"It's okay, I'm sure you'll remember."

"Yeah, I hope so." We continued to walk forward after our long conversation.

* * *

**Pit & Tiffany**

Things were starting to get awkward after a while due to the silence, but then I saw something up ahead.

"Hey Pit, where does that path go?" I asked while pointing at the white brick path leading to a tiny dot in the distance.

"That is the path that we need to follow," Pit explained. "Yep, we are only 5 minutes away from town." As we continued walking, the little city in the distance got bigger. A lot bigger. It looked like it had a golden gate, kind of like Heaven, as the entrance, along with being surrounded by tall brick walls. I suppose it was to protect Palutena, but I could be wrong.

Ever since I met Pit, I'd completely forgotten about the burn on my wrist. By now, it had turned into a scar that went from my palm to my wrist. "Hey Pit? What was that thing you shot at Akhos?"

"Who's Akhos?" Oops, I'd forgotten to tell Pit about him.

"The demon that kidnapped me and then tried to kill me," I answered right away since I knew he was going to ask me that.

"Oh! Okay, well it was just a light arrow," he said matter-of-factly. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering….could your light arrows do anything other than cut people?"

"Hmm," he began. "All I can think of is it could also kill people if shot in the right area of someone's body like the -" He wasn't able to finish due to my interruption.

"Heart?" I finished for him. "Dude, I think everyone knows that," I said giggling. "What I really meant was, could your arrows…. burn things?"

"Oh yeah! They can do that!" he yelled as if he'd just forgotten something and remembered what it was. Then he mumbled to himself saying, "How could I forget that?" He looked down and put a curled finger up to his mouth; the symbolic sign of a person in deep thought. After a few seconds of pondering to himself, Pit looked up at me and narrowed his eyes. "How did you know my arrows can do that?"

"Umm, lucky guess." I didn't want him to know he'd burned me, so I lied. His eyes were still narrowed at me.

"Akhos was holding onto your left wrist, right?" Crap, this guy is a lot smarter than he looks.

"Y-yes," I stuttered. "Why do you ask such a silly question?" Boy did I feel nervous. Now I knew how ants felt when they saw an anteater.

"May I see your wrist?" Pit asked sincerely. I looked behind him and saw that we were right in front of the main gates to Angel Land.

"Hey look!" I exclaimed while pointing at the big city behind Pit. "We reached the gates." I smiled, hoping that he would forget the questions that he had asked me earlier.

"Halt! Who goes there?" shouted an angel from a tall lookout tower. This angel was a tall, muscular guy. Pit turned around abruptly and stood up straight and tall.

"Pit! Leader of the Angel Land Military, and chairman for the army. I am returning from a mission that I had gone off to complete." He continued to look up at the man in the watch tower, showing no fear.

"Who is she?" said the girl angel in the other watch tower just across from the first one. She nodded her head towards me so that Pit would know who she was talking about.

Pit turned to me, smiled, and said, "She is my mission." My cheeks began turning red at his comment, making me smile. Then he turned back to face the two angels and continued. "Julius had shown me an image of her being attacked by a demon so I went to help." The watch tower angels looked over at one another and nodded.

"You both have permission to enter. Welcome back to Angel Land Pit," the girl angel stated cheerfully. When they weren't busy doing business, angels seemed to be very nice and welcoming around here. I could get used to this. As Pit and I approached the entrance to the town, the gates slowly opened, unveiling a beautiful white and gold city. I couldn't believe my own eyes. It was so pretty I had to blink several times to make sure it was real instead of some mirage, even if we were nowhere near a desert.

"Amazing isn't it?" I looked up at Pit to see him looking at me with a smile.

"Yeah it sure is," I said speechless. I looked back at the city in front of me and tried to take in as much of it as I could. There were old fashioned buildings that looked like they were built back in Greek times. There were also many angels flying and walking from place to place with smiles on each of their faces. As Pit and I started walking through the town, I noticed a statue of a woman with long hair holding a large scepter and shield in the middle of a plaza. She looked beautiful with her sensitive smile and long dress that had many intricate patterns on it. "Hey Pit, is that Palutena?" I asked him curiously while pointing at the statue.

"Yes it is," he responded with a straight face. "This statue was built in honor of her death. It's a way for us to say thank you for her sacrifice to save Angel Land." He looked forlornly at the statue for a few minutes, and then started to cry.

"Oh, I see." I gave him a few minutes to himself. In the meantime, angels were looking at me with weird looks. What? Had they never seen an angel grieve for his goddess? Or was it me? Surely they've seen a human before…..right?"

"We better get going. I know someone that may want to meet you." He sniffled a few times and began walking towards a large building just a couple of blocks away from the statue.

"Okay." I didn't know what to say to him at the moment. Instead I just followed him through the crowd.

As we approached what looked like the main hall, there were potted plants lining the pathway. This place was huge. It actually looked like a church more than a normal town hall. Stained glass windows rested in the white marble stone walls. They had pictures that depicted different people and battle scenes. The people looked like they were gods and goddesses due to the glowing outline each of them possessed. One of them even looked like Medusa from those old Greek legends that I'd learned about in my world history class. The doors were huge and made of this dark, smooth looking wood. Everything here was so well crafted. When Pit and I reached the huge doors, I didn't even notice the soldiers standing off to the sides.

"Halt!" one of them yelled.

"Ahh!" That guy's yelling caused me to scream and jump at the same time. All of the angels looked over at me with scared and questioning eyes.

"Is she alright?" one of the soldiers asked Pit.

"Yeah, she's fine. She just didn't see you guys," he answered with a laugh. Clearly he was over his dramatic moment.

"So Pit is she the human that Julius has been talking non-stop about?" the angel that shouted 'halt' asked. "He's been marching around in here ever since you flew down to the Overworld."

"Yes she is. May we go in?" Pit asked kindly.

"Of course!" both angels chorused. They turned around and opened the big, heavy looking doors to reveal a very large room decorated with potted plants, sculptures, and paintings. The lighting consisted of three large chandeliers holding what looked like 50 candles each. "_That must take a long time to get this room lit up,_" I thought to myself. As Pit and I walked in, we heard mumbling coming from a corner in the room. Way down at the far end was an angel, looking out into the plaza of Angel Land.

"Ahem," Pit said trying to get the angel's attention. Immediately the angel turned around and saw both Pit and me. His eyes got big when they landed on me. "_I take it this was the guy Pit said wanted to meet me?_" I thought.

"Pit! You have returned! And you have brought the human with you. How splendid!" He was yelling so loudly that I swear all of the angels outside heard him and looked up at the main hall. The angel quickly ran up to me and stopped just a few feet away. I was afraid he was almost going to run me over.

"Amazing," he stated. He was acting as if though I was a science experiment.

"Can I help you?" I asked with a smile.

"My dear, my name is Julius," he replied while holding my hand with two of his own. "I am in charge of the education department of Angel Land. It is wonderful to have finally met you."

* * *

**Okay I admit it! I had fun writing this chapter. I know several of the instances don't make sense. That's what I was actually going for. And yes, I ALSO know that I use "…."a lot. That's just how I write. I use them to prove my point that people are either thinking of what to say next, or something is just so significantly awkward that it has to be said in that format. Whew! Long explanation!**

**Lastly, please review! I would say R and R, but let's be practical here. If you've made it this far in the chapter, you have undoubtedly already read it. So….. (Hehehe)…..REVIEW! Please.**

**Next chapter:**** Evil Is Rising**

**See ya next time (which I hope won't be too long of a wait from now)!**


	10. Chapter 9 Evil Is Rising

Chapter 9: Evil Is Rising

**Author Note:**** I apologize for the extremely long wait! I never thought it would take THIS long to come up with a chapter. I would like to take this time to thank everyone who is actually still reading, even though I haven't updated in such a long time.**

**On a happier side note, Zelda-rox12 is a great reviewer. She reviewed 3 of the 6 times for my story! She has made me so happy. :D**

**I'm gonna say sorry in advance if this chapter seems rushed. In a way, it was. I felt bad about my lateness and wrote this up in a matter of three days.**

* * *

**Narrator's P.O.V.**

The echoing of footsteps could be heard bouncing off the cave walls with every step he took. The sound of water dripping from stalactites made Ahriman's human-like ears perk up. It was always these same sounds that he would hear every day. "_It's time for a change_," Ahriman thought to himself. He couldn't wait to see Akhos bring the human girl to him. Once that was done, he would be one step closer to conquering Angel Land.

With these evil thoughts on his mind, Ahriman didn't even notice the long cone-shaped stalactite hanging from the ceiling.

*Bonk!*

"Ow!" Ahriman growled to himself. He put a hand up to his forehead to help ease the pain. "Stupid stalactites! I'm sick of this!" he snarled through gritted teeth. He began rampaging in fury through the caves breaking down as many of the stalactites that he could, but since he was focusing so much on the ceiling he didn't even bother to look down at his feet to see a fast approaching stalagmite that he would soon trip over.

*Thud* He landed face-first on the ground.

"Gaah! Stupid stalagmites!" After getting back up on his feet, he started lashing out at as many stalagmites that he could see (or run into in the future). He did this all the way through the caves until he reached his throne room where a shocked minion of his was staring at him.

"Sir? Are you alright?" asked the very confused demonic minion.

"No I am not! I can't wait for my plan to finally take effect. Where is Akhos!" Ahriman shouted while trying to relax himself on his throne of jagged rocks.

"He just arrived a few minutes ago. Would you like to –"

"Bring him in!" Ahriman yelled, cutting off the minion's question.

"As you wish sire." Ahriman watched with dark black eyes as the little demon scurried down the stairs and headed towards the large wooden door directly across from him. He placed his elbow on the armrest and rested his head on his hand, waiting 'patiently' for Akhos to enter.

When Akhos came into the room, Ahriman sensed something was wrong. There was no human girl, and Akhos was looking utterly defeated with cuts and bruises brimming his hands and arms. "_This can't be good_," he began thinking to himself with irritation.

"Hello Ahriman, how are you today?" Akhos asked nervously.

"Akhos?" Ahriman questioned, causing Akhos' anxiety to rise.

"Yes?" he replied sheepishly.

"For your information, my day has been just awful. Seeing you walk in here empty handed doesn't help that fact for me…or yourself." Ahriman squinted at Akhos in hatred.

"Sir, Ahriman, I can explain everything."

"Oh do explain."

"Well you see, it started off like this. I had kidnapped the girl, just like you said to, and brought her to our world. But when I arrived here I didn't arrive…..here," Akhos said flailing his arms around. "Instead the portal brought the human girl and me to the Overworld."

"Are you making this up?" Ahriman asked him with a raised brow.

"No Sir, I am not. I think her world did something to my powers that caused them to become weakened and only bring me halfway to our true destination." Ahriman became intrigued by this and listened intently throughout the rest of Ahriman's speech.

"Continuing on, as I started the walk to the North Woods, I was attacked by an angel boy. He shot some sort of 'arrow of light' at me and gave me a burn. See?" he proclaimed. There on his hand was an unusually large cut with burn marks surrounding it.

"Go on."

"After the angel shot me he grabbed the girl and formed a portal with another one of his arrows. Then he ran through it, dragging the girl in behind him." Ahriman's face became twisted in anger.

"What did you just say?"

"Um, the angel took the girl away from me?" Akhos replied quietly. Ahriman shot out of his chair and quickly ran up to Akhos. When he was face-to-face with him, Ahriman punched Akhos in the face and caused him to fall to the floor in pain.

"Fool! Those are the exact beings whose hands you do not want her falling into! Have you forgotten the point to this entire mission that I have sent you on?"

"But Ahriman, you never really told me what the whole idea behind this was. All you said was to-"

"Gah! Fine, since your feeble-headed brain doesn't seem to remember, then I'll just have to refresh it!" Ahriman turned around and walked back up to his throne to sit down.

"The whole idea behind you kidnapping the girl is because we have reason to believe that she is a 'protector'. And in case you didn't know what that is, based off of the idiotic look you are giving me, a protector is a human being with amazing powers that travels throughout the galaxies to maintain peace. If anything dreadful was to happen in a galaxy, then that protector would go off to said galaxy and destroy whatever was causing the dilemma. Now since my plan involves…..dreadful things….then this girl would have likely come to stop us."

"Actually I don't think she would have," Akhos interrupted. "When I went to kidnap her, she seemed clueless about all of that. She didn't know who I was, or what my purpose of kidnapping her would be. In fact, she looked rather terrified." Ahriman was pleased to hear that their one and only threat was afraid of them. This caused him to smile for a short second.

"Hmm, that's quite interesting. However, now that she has been brought here, she knows too much. She must be killed whether she knows of what she is or not."

"You don't want me to kill her, do you?" Akhos asked while pointing a finger at himself. He began thinking to himself, "_I'm sure glad I didn't tell him that she caused her own escape. Ahriman would've had my head for that one. On the bright side, now I might just get my revenge on that little pest_."

Ahriman sighed and said, "Sadly, you're the only one capable of the job." Ahriman looked behind Akhos to see two minions fighting over weapons. One was holding a pitchfork; the other was holding a scythe.

"It's mine!" said the one holding the scythe.

"No I want your weapon! It looks way scarier. My weapon just makes me look like a ridiculous fleshy farmer," yelled the minion holding the pitchfork. Both demons dropped their weapons and began a 'fist fight', which actually looked a lot more like a cat fight.

Ahriman shook his head in despair. "_How did I get stuck with such child-like stupidity_?" he thought to himself.

"I won't let you down this time Lord Ahriman." Akhos exclaimed while bowing to his master.

"You better not. This is your last chance to prove to me how competent you really are." Akhos swiftly got back up on his two feet and headed for the door. Before he could open the large wooden obstruction, Ahriman continued to speak. "Just to make this more interesting, I want to add a little deal to this. If you do not return with the human girl, then do not come back at all," he said in a low voice. Ahriman clenched his fists tightly in irritation before opening up the door and leaving it to slam shut behind him. The sudden slamming of the door caused a loose stalactite on the cave ceiling to fall directly on top of Ahriman's head.

*Thump!*

Ahriman looked up at the cave's ceiling and started sulking while rubbing his head in pain. "This is such an off day for me," he mumbled to himself.

* * *

**Author Note:**** I had loads of fun writing this chapter…..mostly because I got to make Ahriman hurt himself so many times. :D Evil people, sometimes they just deserve it.**

**At first, I was gonna make this chapter tell the reason why Ahriman wants to control Angel Land, but I'm deciding to save that for later…..well….that and I couldn't find a spot to fit it in. ;) I am also just figuring out how ironic my chapter name is. "Evil Is Rising," should be "Evil Is Falling," because they were pretty much hitting the floor every two minutes. XD**

**Well, you know the drill. Please review, keep reading (even though I've become such a pain at getting my story updated. Again, I'm sorry!), and have a nice day/night/evening/breakfast/lunch/dinner/supper/dessert…..oh great, now I'm hungry. *runs off to the kitchen***

**Next Chapter: haven't come up with a name yet...but I'm working on it. :P**


	11. Chapter 10 How Do You Know Me?

**Chapter 10 – How Do You Know Me?**

**Author's Note:** **Yay! Finally another chapter is now up! I've been working on other "projects" lately so I won't be updating this story like I used to, but I will still be working on it. So no worries! :D**

**I can't believe how many people are reading my story. You all make me so happy!**

* * *

**Julius, Tiffany, and Pit**

**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

At first, all I could think about was, "_Do all angels look like little kids?_" but then I remembered seeing an elderly angel walk past me and Pit as we made our way to the Town Hall. This guy/angel person standing in front of me looks very young, and actually kinda cute. He has blonde curly hair, and blue eyes. His skin is tan, just like everybody else, but he doesn't look as physically fit as Pit. He is wearing a toga with a red pin holding it in place, and fluffy sandals that look like Pit's. Everyone must have the same outfit around here. Crap, it's like I just walked into a private school.

"Your name is Julius?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered with a nod.

"And you say you run the Educational Department of Angel Land?"

"That is also correct," he replied through a friendly smile.

"Is your last name Caesar?" I asked my final question with a grin. That caused his smile to fade away slowly. "_Okay_," I thought to myself, "_I couldn't help it. The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the name Julius is Caesar, and my teacher did say that he was a smart guy. I hope he doesn't get mad at my comment._"

"No, it is not. Actually, angels do not have last names," Julius stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh, that's strange. I mean, what if someone has the same first name? Then what would you do?"

Julius began smiling again. "No one in Angel Land has the same first name. Palutena would make sure no one did." Oh great, Palutena was brought up again. I glanced over at Pit to make sure he was alright, but he seemed perfectly fine. Besides the fact that he is spacing out, I think he is finally starting to overcome his loss…after years of mourning. Then again, this was his GODDESS. She was probably like a mom to him. "_Do angels have moms?"_ I began thinking to myself. "Judging by the look on your face, you have many more questions," Julius stated calmly along with that same smile he had before I made that 'Caesar' comment.

"Yes, many questions," I replied with a nervous giggle. Some of my questions, I wasn't exactly sure if I wanted an answer.

"Please feel free to ask away. I'm willing to answer any questions you give me," Julius answered. Pit quickly walked away from my side and sat down in one of the many chairs that lined the long, decorative table. He looked like he was going to take a nap. Thank you Pit. Thank you so much for your friendly support. I sent him a miniature glare, but he didn't even notice. I looked back at Julius to find him staring at me with big longing eyes as if he couldn't wait to answer a question that I would ask.

"Alrighty then. So, um, how do you know me?" I asked with concern in my voice. He stood there for a few seconds, pondering my question.

"How about you start with a different question. Then we can just work our way to that one. There is a lot of information that you will need to know before I answer that first one."

"Okay. Why was I kidnapped? All I was gonna do was fall asleep. I mean, sure I forgot to study for my chemistry quiz, but my God that is no reason to go and kill me!" I began freaking out. However, all it took was Julius' comforting hand on my shoulder to calm me down. I took a deep breath and composed myself for the answer that he would soon give me.

"First of all, you're not dead. Second, you were kidnapped by a demon."

"A what?" I shouted loudly. I was right. Some of my questions I didn't want an answer for. I started getting tensed up again.

"You were kidnapped by a -"

"No, don't say it again!" My eyes felt like they were bulging out of my head. "I knew that guy wasn't human, but I never would have suspected THAT!"

"Well what would you have expected?"

"I don't know maybe a werewolf, a vampire, or possibly even just a creepy guy that lives off of cocaine who ended up having messed up sharp-looking teeth from using those drugs?" For some reason, Julius laughed at what I said. "What's so funny? As far as I can tell, this is no joking matter!" I yelled while flailing my arms around. My actions only made him laugh even harder. I could even hear Pit, the fake sleeper, chuckling along with Julius.

"I'm sorry," Julius apologized while holding his sides due to laughing so hard. "It's just that I've never heard of vampires and werewolves being real. Around here, they're both considered a figment of a human's imaginations." He continued to laugh which only made me even more frustrated. "_They might not want to tell all of those Twilight fans in my world about this. There could be some major violence_."

"Well then, that still doesn't explain _**why**_I got brought here." Julius stopped laughing and turned his once happy face into a serious expression.

"I've been wondering that for myself, but I think I may have come up with a solution."

"Okay. So what would that be?" I asked trying to urge him to continue on.

"Well, here in Angel Land we have this legend-"

"Oh boy, I can already tell this isn't going to end well for me." I said, cutting off Julius before he could even finish his sentence.

"Anyways, this legend states that…what makes you think that this is going to end badly for you?" he asked me looking very confused.

"Look, I've read stories where there's a legend and some normal chick/dude comes out of nowhere and ends up fitting some prophecy and saves the world but either ends up as a completely different person or dies. With my luck, I would end up dying." Julius looked like he was about to laugh again, but held it in.

"Please let me explain. This prophecy is different from those that you have probably read out of books. In this legend there are humans that we call 'The Protectors'. These people are gifted humans that have amazing abilities, or powers if you prefer to call them that. With those powers in their hands, these humans would go around to different galaxies fighting all sorts of evil villains who plan to destroy worlds or wipe out any chance of peace completely."

"And you believe that I'm one of these 'Protectors'?" I asked while doing a fingering motion for air quotes around the word protectors.

"Yes, I do. It's the only logical explanation that I can think of."

"Julius, I don't have powers, nor have I ever had powers. I can't possibly be one of these special humans. You've probably missed something, like maybe a major detail that could look minor."

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Has anything odd happened to you lately?"

"Oh you mean besides me being kidnapped, brought to your world by a demon, being saved by Pit over there, being sucked into two different portals, and finding myself in a place that resembles Heaven in my world?"

"Um, yes?" Julius replied with a raised eyebrow. Pit was over in his chair snickering to himself.

"The only thing I can think of would be when I was back in my world. My family was going to go eat at a restaurant, but on the way there our car almost hit a pheasant. So as a way of missing it my mom swerved the car off the road and almost hit a power line, but before we could hit it, some bright light surrounded the car making everyone in the vehicle very dazed and confused. In the end, no one got hurt." After my short story, I looked at both Pit and Julius to find them both looking at me with confused looks on their faces.

"What is a pheasant?" asked Pit.

"What is a car?" Julius questioned.

"What's with the questions? I thought I was the only one allowed to do that?" I asked them both. Seeing as though neither of them were going to talk until I answered them, I sighed and said, "A pheasant is a bird, and a car is a big object that we humans use as transportation from one place to another." Both angels looked at each other, and then back at me. I chose to ignore whatever that look was supposed to mean.

"Can I ask another question now?"

"Just wait. Has anything else happened to you during your time in your world?" Julius asked me.

"…..well, that same day my eyes looked green. That's pretty unusual to me considering that my true eye color is hazel." Slowly, Julius walked up to me until he was face-to-face with me. He looked into my eyes, and I couldn't help but feel a little weird. I started to lean back, but stopped immediately when Julius grabbed onto both of my arms. My face started to feel hot once I realized that I was blushing a little bit.

"Your eyes do appear to have a slight green tone to them, but yes other than that you're right. Your real eye color is 'hazel'. I find this odd. In our world, everyone has one distinct eye color that could never be mistaken for another shade." Julius tilted his head to the side in thought, and then released me from his grip to take a step back so that he could continue examining me from a distance. He started smiling again and said, "I actually like your eye color. It's truly unique and I have never seen anything like it." I blinked hard a couple of times.

"Well this moment is a little awkward for me," Pit said quickly standing up from his chair and walking over to Julius and me. "Tiffany, you're going to be staying here for awhile due to what has happened to you recently, so would you like me to show you to your room?" he asked with a big smile.

"Um, sure." I was actually kinda glad he cut in when he did. This moment was getting a little awkward for me too.

"Great. Bye Julius. We'll see you later." Pit grabbed my wrist, and caused a bit a pain to shoot up through my arm because of the burn mark I had. I winced, but not enough for him to tell if I was hurt.

Julius stood there for a moment looking dumbfounded. I suppose because the past few seconds just flew over his head. He gave a little wave and turned around to walk back to the window he was looking out of before Pit and I had arrived.

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**Pit and Tiffany**

"Here we are!" Pit exclaimed. After walking down numerous hallways in Palutena's palace, I felt extremely lost. "_How do people know where they're going around here?_" Ithought to myself. Pit opened the door to my room and held it open so that I could walk inside. I told him thanks, and walked in to find a huge room with a high vaulted ceiling. There was a giant chandelier in the middle and a few skylights surrounding it. The bed looked super comfy, and there was even a private bathroom from the looks of it.

"Wow," I said. "This makes my room at home look really bad."

"Is that a good thing?"

"For you it is," I told him with a smile, "but for my room, not so much." I laughed and continued looking at everything with a curious eye only to see what looked like big glass doors leading to a porch. I walked over to it to look at the view, but I saw nothing. I figured the windows must have been made to look foggy white. So I opened the doors and walked outside only to feel stunned. When I looked over the railings I could see a courtyard along with a statue of Palutena and many exotic looking plants surrounding it. In the distance, what I thought looked like nothing was actually many clouds.

"You should see this place when the sun sets. All of those clouds change colors." Pit surprised me. I didn't think he walked out here with me. To be honest, I thought he essentially left me to be by myself.

"You mean like a rainbow?"

He laughed a little and said, "Sure, like a rainbow…..only better."

"Can't wait," I replied hastily and walked back into my new room. Pit walked back in and shut the doors behind him. Then he strolled across the room quickly.

"I'm gonna leave so that you can get situated. Maybe later you can ask Julius more questions," he stated with a grin.

"Okeydokey." I gave Pit a small wave before he shut the door. Once I knew he was gone I ran over to the bed and hopped onto it. I was totally right. It is VERY comfy. In fact it was so comfy that it made me feel sleepy the moment I landed on it. "_Maybe shutting my eyes for a few minutes wouldn't be so bad,_" I thought. _"If anything, this could all be some weird dream and I'll wake up from it the moment I fall asleep_." I closed my eyes, hoping to wake up in my bed at home like I normally would.

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**Author's Note:**** There you have it. The ending to my first double-digit chapter! I decided to throw a little bit of romance in there (even though this story has nothing to do with that), but I think I failed…... epically. XD**

**Next Chapter:**** Title pending.**

**Bye bye! Have a great day! :)**


	12. Chapter 11 Dreaming of Gods

**Chapter 11 – Dreaming of Gods**

**Author's Note:**** Welcome back for another exciting chapter of **_**Protectors**_**!**

**There's just one thing that you need to remember from last chapter ….. that Tiffany was falling asleep, hoping to wake up at home. Why? Because the story keeps going from there.** **:P**

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**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

"How'd I get here?" I asked myself while taking in my new surroundings. "_Okay so now I'm dreaming…..I think. It looks like I'm still in the Angel Land palace, but instead of sleeping in my new bedroom, I'm in a room that looks big enough to hold a God_," I thought to myself.

"I think you mean Goddess," said a melodic voice. I turned around quickly to find a ghostly apparition of a tall, pretty woman standing at the top of a staircase that led to a large throne. She had long green hair that fell below her waist, and emerald green eyes that watched me intently. The dress that she wore was long and had a slit in the left leg, exposing it a little bit. The crown that sat on her head told me that she was a very important being. Even though she looked like a ghost, she was smiling but I couldn't figure out why. "_I feel like I've seen her before_." "That is because you have," she stated as if she'd heard my own thoughts. "You just don't remember." The more I watched her, the more visible her body became. She was becoming whole, but very slowly.

"Wait. You're…..Palutena?" I asked the woman, remembering the fountain in the courtyard that Pit showed me. Her smile grew greatly. She looked really happy for someone who's supposed to be dead. By this point, her body was completely visible.

"Yes, I am," the goddess replied. My body started to shake. I felt afraid, yet calm. I felt like staying and talking to her, but I also felt like running away because not only is she a goddess, but she's dead. At least that's what Pit said. I began turning around to get out of there. "Please don't be afraid," Palutena whimpered raising a hand to stop me. "It has been years since I've conversed with someone, and it would be nice to talk."

"Um…okay," I replied. I walked back to her, stopping at the bottom of the staircase. The moment felt a little awkward for me. Neither one of us said anything for what felt like minutes. She just stood there watching me with interest. "So….how's it going?" I asked nervously.

"Not well Tiffany, not well." Her smile seemed to falter. "Although seeing you back in my palace again brings me joy," she said while regaining her perfect smile.

"Whoa, how do you know my name? And what do you mean 'back in your palace'?" Palutena kept smiling and gave a small sigh.

"I see my plan was a success. No one saw what we did, and you do not remember." My eyes felt like they were going to fall out of my head.

"Please tell me I didn't get drugged and did something I might possibly regret?" I was talking to a goddess as if she was a teenager_. "Have I really become that immature?_

"Oh heavens no! Don't think of yourself that way. I've had a hands-on experience with watching over your life and I must say you've impressed me child." There she went acting all psychic again. I decided to put her 'mind-reading' abilities to the test. "_Can you read minds?_" I thought to myself firmly. "Yes, but only yours." I gasped loudly.

"Wow, why's that?" I looked at her with a confused expression plastered on my face. Palutena began taking a couple of steps towards me.

"Seeing as though you're going to have to know this information sooner or later, I suppose now would be the best time to tell you." I waited silently for her to enlighten me with whatever could, for all I know, be a horrible secret about me. "You remember what Pit told you about how I died, correct?"

"Yes," I said while nodding, allowing her to continue.

"The little girl he was talking about…..was actually you." My whole body went numb, and my throat went dry. If I wanted to say something, I wouldn't be able to get a word out. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you sooner." My mind started to race with different feelings. I felt angry, scared, nervous, confused, and worried all at once. Anger somehow seemed to pull through in the end.

"And I'm just finding this out now? How come you couldn't contact me in my dreams earlier?" I asked infuriatingly. As angry as I was, I couldn't show my frustration towards a Goddess because of her choices. _"Hell, I'm not that dumb. I actually paid attention in my history classes. Greeks believed that Gods and Goddesses didn't like to be told that they were wrong._"

"Because I was weak and away from home. My power weakens whenever I leave Angel Land. My purpose is to stay here and watch over my angels while giving humans light, not to leave the land from which I was born to rule only to go on vacations." Her voice was stern and powerful. I hoped to God that I didn't anger her. I tried to calm down so that I could get myself out of this mess.

"Hm….when you put it that way, I guess it's not your fault. But I'm still confused. How am I talking to you in my dream? Aren't you supposed to be….dead?" Looking back on Pit's story, he clearly stated that she sacrificed herself to save Angel Land. From the way it sounds, she even saved me.

"Yes, but I am only partially dead. My body had been disintegrated, but my spirit lives on."

"You mean like a ghost?"

"No. I mean my spirit still remains connected to the world."

"Yeah, so like a ghost," I chuckled. Palutena furrowed her brow and walked back over to her throne to sit down.

"How can I put this so that you can understand? My spirit is connected to your body." This is one of those moments where if I was drinking water, I would've spat it out.

"Say what? But…but….how can that be?"

"Because when you were here talking to me in that one moment of time before I died, you and I made a promise with each other." At this moment, a faded vision of Palutena and me was in the middle of the room. She was kneeling down on one knee, and whispering something into my ear. Then she blew what looked like foggy cold air towards my mouth. After that, the vision before us had begun to fade away. "I had given you a piece of my soul so that I could one day be reborn. In return, all you had to do was hide this pact that we made. After all, you were quite young. You wouldn't have understood what was going on anyways, so I couldn't make a true pact with you. And yet you held your word quite nicely for a girl who is very young." My body felt hot and I started feeling dizzy. Palutena looked at me with concern.

"I made a promise to a goddess," I whispered to myself. "I don't believe it." Looking down at the ground, I tried to come up with anything that would allow me to remember meeting Palutena in the past.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way. If you want, you can ask me any questions that you'd like." There wasn't a minute that went by in this world where I wasn't in the least bit bewildered. I had so many questions that I wanted to ask Julius, but if Palutena was actually willing to help me out then I should try asking her those same questions. I looked back up at her and asked her the first question that came to my mind.

"Julius told me that I'm a Protector. Is that true?"

Palutena smirked and said, "No dear, you are not a Protector. However, I do see where he gets that idea." I cocked my head to the side puzzled. "Since I've been connected to you for quite some time, it seems as though my powers are starting to rub off on you."

"So that means, since you're the Goddess of Light….I control light?" I asked her unhappily. Palutena started to laugh at my tiny bit of depression.

"You make it sound like a bad thing."

"Oh no, I'm not saying that you're powers suck! It's just that I was always thinking if I ever got superpowers I would want to be able to either fly, or control an element of nature. You know, like water or fire. Maybe even earth." Palutena continued to laugh at my dumb remarks.

"I have so much to teach you," she stated while grinning. At that moment she seemed to start disappearing again. "_Wait a minute_," I thought. "_I don't want her to go. I have more questions to ask!"_

She continued to dissipate into the air, but before she left completely she said, "Do not worry. I will speak with you again soon." She wasn't the only thing fading away. The room was also going black. All of the walls seemed to be caving in on me as everything left my sight. A few seconds later, my vision was lost entirely and I felt the urge to lie down and sleep.

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**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

I glumly woke up from my dream that I had. One look around the room told me that I really was kidnapped and brought to a place called Angel Land. "So much for waking up in my bed back home," I stated to myself.

My new bedroom looked really lit up in the morning, but I suppose that would be from the skylights on the ceiling and the big windows that lined the north wall. I got out of bed feeling drowsy like I normally do and headed for what I thought to be the bathroom. Thank God I was right. My teeth felt icky and really needed to be brushed.

When I looked in the mirror before brushing my teeth, I looked at myself for a bit. My body looked like it was starting to change. My eyes looked like they were turning green, and my skin appeared to have a godly glow to it. Then I remembered the dream that I had just moments ago.

"_How can I put this so that you can understand? My spirit is connected to your body," _Palutena's voice rang in my head. _"Could Palutena's soul be doing this to me?" _I asked myself. Just as I was thinking this, my usual features appeared to return to normal. "I must be imagining things," I told myself in the silence of the morning.

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**Author's Note:**** Yep, another chapter is done! And now, you may have a dollar- ****[**$(ι)$] **-****s worth of music. **

******http:/www. aimini. net/view/?fid=cLI43Jtatd3JwADjtwgD (just remember to take out the spaces between www. aimini. net)**

**This song is my favorite for this week. Enjoy! XD**


	13. Chapter 12 The Big Discovery

**Chapter 12 – The Big Discovery**

**Author's Note****: FINALLY! I got this one done! This chapter was harder to write for some reason.**

**For this chapter I decided that it was necessary to switch up the 'point-of-view' a little bit. So if things seem out of place or sound wrong, then that's probably why.**

_**Things to remember:**_** Tiffany had a dream with Palutena in it. You'll need to remember this info from ****last**** chapter for the end of ****this ****chapter.**

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**Julius' P.O.V.**

"_Wow, I'm really tired_," I thought to myself. "_But I suppose staying up all night working on my project is what caused this exhaustion_." A yawn escaped my mouth as I continued to look into Palutena's vision pool. I was researching what Tiffany had told me about the 'car-accident-that -almost-happened'. Surprisingly enough, she wasn't kidding. As I watched the past vision, I slowed it down a bit to see the flash of a bright light surround the car. It was very bright and hard to see anything in the vehicle, but then something caught my eye.

"Wait a minute," I told myself aloud. I zoomed in on Tiffany to find her holding her hands to her face, palms facing the window, with her arms in the shape of an 'X', the universal sign of defense. But that wasn't what got my attention. I zoomed in a little more and found out where the source of light was coming from.

"Her hands! This is remarkable! She really is a Protector! I must tell Pit immediately." I was about call a messenger angel when the dreaded thought struck me. "_Hold on. Pit won't believe me until I have proof. Knowing him, he'll just say that it's all in my head._" "I can't tell him…..unless if…I have Tiffany show him herself." I smiled at my brilliant idea. I had just come up with a plan that was sure to work.

"However, both Tiffany and Pit wouldn't agree to this," I stated to the empty room. While shaking my head in defeat I began walking towards the main door to leave Palutena's throne room. There were two guards just outside the room who could deliver the message for me. I quickly opened the door to find them both still standing there.

"Hello Julius, what can we do for you?" said the guard to the right of the door.

"I want you to go get Pit and bring him here. Tell him that this is very important," I told him. The guard nodded and was soon running down the hallway. Angels. We sure know how to follow the rules.

"Um, Julius? Did something happen in there?" asked the girl angel on the other side of the door. She looked kind of nervous to ask.

"I just discovered something very important and I need to tell Pit what it is. Hey, um, I was wondering. Could you do me a favor? You know, as long as you're not too busy." The girl's curiosity must have disappeared. Her confused look was replaced with a big smile.

"I'd be happy to. What'dya need?"

"Could you possibly go find Tiffany and bring her here for me? I need her as well."

"You mean the human?" she asked. I nodded in reassurance. "Sure thing. I'll be back before ya know it." With that said, she ran down the hall in much the same fashion as the other guard did.

"Hm, I wonder if I'm doing the right thing," I told myself as I turned to walk back into the room. "Oh well, might as well go with my plan now. Besides, what do we have to lose?" I asked myself.

"…._Tiffany's life_," my conscience replied. I looked down at the stone floor, afraid of what my future actions could cause.

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**Pit's P.O.V.**

"_Julius, why must you always get me when I'm in the middle of important tasks?" _I yelled to myself. I followed the angel that Julius sent for me back to the main hall. We went down a corridor where the angel stopped.

"Right through there Captain Pit," he told me while pointing at a rather large door.

"Thanks….um what did Julius say that he needed?"

"Oh, just something about finding important information on 'the legend'. Do you know what he's talking about?" the angel asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm pretty sure I do. Well, thanks again!" I replied with a smile. The boy angel saluted me and then walked back to his post next to the door. I took a breath and slowly strolled over to the large wooden door. When I opened it, I found Julius looking into the vision pool. "_What could he have possibly found?_" I asked myself. Julius looked deep in thought, so I didn't want to bother him. I closed the door behind myself as quietly as I could so that I wouldn't disturb him.

*_Click*_

Julius immediately looked up from what he was doing just seconds ago. "Oh, hi Pit! You scared me."

"Sorry Julius. The door only clicked shut. How did _that_ scare you? It's not like I slammed it shut." I walked over to the vision pool and stood next to Julius, looking him straight in the eye.

"Well Pit, I'm sorry that I'm the timid type of angel. Not all of us can be brave and defeat a giant gorgon monster when we're only twelve years old." At first I thought he was mad, but then he gave me a big smile and started to laugh. "Haha you actually thought I was mad! Oh Pit, maybe you're the timid angel out of the two of us."

"Julius….shut up," I said to him while trying to hold back a smile. I failed miserably. We both stood there laughing our butts off for a couple of minutes, and then I broke the silence. "So what did you find out about the legend?"

"Oh yeah. That's why you're here. To be honest, it's not about the 'legend' so much as it is about Tiffany. You see, I was looking in the vision pool to see that event that happened to her a while ago with the car-accident…..and pheasant. Those birds look funny when they run. Have you noticed that?"

"Julius, focus," I told him in an irritated manner. It sounded a little meaner than I wanted it to, but I had to get my point across. Angel Land is in a time where everyone must try their hardest to fight for freedom from the dark side.

"Sorry," Julius replied while looking down at the floor. As soon as he looked down at the floor, he looked back up at me and kept going with what he was going to say earlier. "Anyways, umm…" Once Julius started talking again, Tiffany opened up the door that I came through just a few minutes ago. "Ah, just the person I wanted to see." I looked at Julius with confusion. "_Is this information so important that he has to tell her too?_"

"You needed to see me?" Tiffany asked Julius. She also looked confused but strolled over to a chair on the other side of the room near a window. At first I thought she would sit down, but instead she just leaned on it while looking out the window.

"Yes, well actually I need you to do something for me as well."

"Oh great, I'm a slave now. God dang it!" I couldn't help but laugh at her remark. She always jumps to conclusions or over-exaggerates at the oddest times.

"No!" Julius yelled and then composed himself. "No, you're not a slave I just need you do to a tiny little thing for me." Tiffany looked at him with a blank expression written on her face. I don't think she's the type of person that likes to help people with favors too much. "All I need you to do is stand there."

Tiffany furrowed her brow and looked at the both of us in astonishment. "What?"

"You heard me. Just…..stand there," Julius whispered. He then turned around and started walking away. Now he had me confused. "_Why would he bring Tiffany and me here if all he was going to do was walk away and leave us?_" In no time at all, my question was answered. Julius walked a few more steps away and then stopped for a couple of seconds as if thinking over his actions. Then he dug in his pocket for something, but I couldn't think of what it might be. In the blink of an eye, he turned around and threw a dagger across the room in Tiffany's direction. My instincts kicked in and suddenly I found myself running towards Tiffany to protect her from the oncoming danger. However, something was wrong. This dagger had a little bit of kick to it. Julius must have put light energy into it, because the weapon was traveling dangerously fast. My feet couldn't keep up with it.

"Tiffany move!" I yelled. For some reason she didn't budge. She stood there surprised and confused. Her next action was putting her arms up in an 'X' shape as if defending herself. Suddenly, a bright light came from her hands and formed a defensive barrier around her. When the dagger hit the light shield, it made a loud clank sound and then fell to the floor in defeat.

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**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

Breathing heavily, I panicked. I just couldn't believe it. "_Did Julius just try to kill me? But even more surprising than that….did I just use light powers?_"

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**Author's Note:**** Yes! I'm back…..after a month of scholarships, tests, and college courses. I'm back! **

**I can't believe I still haven't gotten anymore reviews though. I thought that more people would be reviewing now that I've gotten to a better part in the story.**

"[$(ι)$]**-s worth of music!"**

**Today's song is **_**The Writer**_** by Ellie Goulding. She is now one of my favorite artists. You should check out the rest of her music (Lights, Every Time You Go, I'll Hold My Breath, Starry Eyed, and Your Biggest Mistake are all of the other songs of hers that I love). :D If you want links to them, just ask me (PM or review).**

**http:/www. aimini .net/view/?fid=NdX3dGIyOSyxsZQq45wL**

**Hooray for entertainment!**

**Once again, please keep reading and review. See ya next time!**


	14. Chapter 13 The Truth Comes Out

**Chapter 13 – The Truth Comes Out**

**Author's Note:**** You readers are in luck! I'm actually bored and have nothing to do today, so that means I get to write another chapter of **_**Protectors**_**!**

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**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

"Julius, what the Hell!" I shouted. "I thought you were my friend?...Well, something like that anyways." Julius stood on the other side of the room with a big grin on his face and glazed-over eyes. He looked like he'd just won the science fair. "What's up with you!" His eyes gazed back at me and appeared normal again.

"Tiffany, I am your friend. Don't worry," he replied trying to calm me down. Then he went back to his happy place and began to look at me with that same glazed look he had earlier. "I'm so excited! It's true! It's true! I knew it all along...Pit, what do you think?" Julius glanced over at Pit to find him stunned and zoning out. "Surprised huh? At a loss of words?" Julius asked while raising an eyebrow at Pit.

"…..Actually, both. This is amazing. At first I thought you were just going insane, but now I see it. Julius, she really is a Protector!" he yelled as he started to chuckle happily while shaking Julius wildly back and forth.

"I know! There's a reason why I'm in charge of the education department and this proves it!" Julius looked so happy that he jumped off the ground and flew around the room several times. "_I really don't wanna ruin his joy-filled moment, but…._"

"I'm not really a Protector," I stated quietly, almost to myself.

"What was that?" Pit asked me quizzically. I took a deep breath and continued.

"I'm not really a Protector." Both angels looked ready to ask questions so before they could stop me from speaking I held my hand up to prevent them from talking. "Please let me explain," I said with sorrow in my eyes. They both backed off and sat down in nearby chairs. When they looked back at me, they had interest written on their faces…well Pit did at least. Julius looked depressed because his big idea was shot down. The look on his face made me feel sorry for saying what I did, but I couldn't just hide it. These two need to hear this information.

"Palutena came to me in a dream last night and told me that I'm not a Protector." At first there was complete silence, and then Pit looked furious after registering what I'd just said. He shot up from his chair and readied his bow, aiming it at me. Quickly, I placed my hands above my head to show that I wasn't going to fight back.

"Don't you dare be making up lies just to get out this legend! Especially if that lie involves Palutena!" He looked as if he was on the verge of tears.

"Pit, please. I'm not lying." I glanced over at Julius to find him thinking this over rationally, the thing Pit should have been doing also.

"I don't understand," said Julius. "How could Palutena come to you in a dream? I thought she was dead."

"Believe me. That's what I thought too."

"Here's what I don't get," Pit began, still aiming his bow at me. "Why would Palutena come to YOU? She's never met you before! Heck, I'D never met you before yesterday!" Pit was really upset, and I could tell. His comment was pushing me to my limits. "_If he wants an answer, then I'll give him one,_" I thought to myself for a moment.

"Pit, you're wrong. You HAVE met me, and so has Palutena," I stated quietly, closing my eyes during the statement. This didn't feel like the type of moment to tell him this news, but he was giving me no choice. I felt a tear creep out of the corner of my eye and roll down my cheek.

"What?" Pit asked astonished. Slowly he withdrew his attack on me and began to look like the guy I'd met in the Overworld again. I opened my tear-pooled eyes and looked at him with grief.

My bottom lip was quivering and my voice was so choked up you could barely understand me as I said, "I'm so sorry Pit. I didn't know." He appeared taken aback by my statement. Julius got up from his chair and came over to me at a surprisingly fast rate. He wrapped his arms around me in a hug that was supposed to make me feel better, but it only made the situation worse. I couldn't take it anymore. I let out my feelings on the spot.

"Tiffany? Tiffany, what's wrong?" Pit asked reluctantly. I calmed myself down a little so that I could speak, but my voice was inaudible at the moment. "I don't understand. What do you mean you're sorry? I should be saying sorry to you! I pulled my weapon out on you because I thought you were mocking Palutena with a lie….So she really did come to you in your dream last night?" I nodded my head up and down as a way of saying 'yes'. He looked like he felt bad, and came at me with the same hug that Julius did. I sniffled a couple of times, and tried to push him off of me. When he understood what I was trying to do, he backed away and gave me some space.

"I don't deserve any hugs. Not for what I did."

"Tiffany, stop. It wasn't your fault. Whoever that human girl was that Ahriman had used would be way more responsible for what happened than you. Please don't blame yourself." "…._Thanks Pit. That comment made me feel so much better._"

"You really don't remember, do you?" I asked him sympathetically.

"Remember what?" Julius asked. He must be confused by this point.

"Pit, you told me how Palutena died. At first I just thought of it as another piece of history, but really it affects me too."

"If you're talking about the demons, I can help you stay away from them. Even if you're not a Protector, you still have powers, so that could help you."

"Do you have any idea where these powers came from?" He was silent for a while. I just assumed he had no idea at all. I sighed and then told him, "I control light. They're Palutena's powers." Pit's face went from astonishment to anger and then to questioning.

"You have Palutena's abilities?" Julius asked out of curiosity.

"Yes," I replied. Pit's face went back to anger.

"What did you do to her?" Pit asked furiously.

"I couldn't remember. Palutena had to show me last night."

"And?" Pit asked through gritted teeth.

"The story of Palutena's death that you'd told me of, and the little girl, and the demon dude that was going to kill her…." I felt like crying again, but held it back.

"Stop rambling! What did you do to Palutena? You said you were sorry for something. What did you do?" I decided it was now or never. He had to know.

"The little girl in your story…was me."

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**Author's ****Note****:**** Yeah this is one of my shorter chapters, but I wanted it to end this way. :)**

**[$(ι)$]-s worth of music!**

**Today's song is **_**Send Me On My Way**_** by Rusted Root. If you've seen Ice Age, then you've heard this song.**

**http:/www. aimini. net/view/?fid=X7cb6VHmvDuzVhvHPSQG**

**Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers (*cough*Zelda-rox12 *cough*). At least I know some people still care about this story. XD**

**See you all next time!**


	15. Chapter 14 Public Enemy Number One

**Chapter 14 – Public Enemy Number One**

**Author's Note****: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed my story so far! You're all amazing! It's all of your comments that keep me updating this story more often…..especially the reviews with the nice compliments! Those really make me smile. :)**

_**WARNING:**_** This chapter has quite a few long parts in it where no one is really talking. It's just showing you how that character is feeling and/or thinking. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't read those sections because if you don't then you may become lost very quickly.**

**P.S.**** - Sorry if this is a crap chapter. I have poor word choice throughout it because I didn't know how else to word it. :(**

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**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

The room was eerily quiet for what felt like minutes. During this awkward moment, Pit just stood in one spot with a dazed expression written all over his face. "_What could he be thinking?_" I asked myself. After I'd thought this, he stood up and walked out of the room without saying anything. He didn't even look at me or Julius. "_Great, he's mad at me. I just know it!_" I already felt bad for what had happened in the past, but Jesus give me a break. "_I was three freaking years old! Cut me some slack! That happened years ago, can't he just let it go?_" Now that my own anger was rising, I felt the need to leave the room as well. I wanted to go find a place where I could just let out all of my confusing feelings. So I decided to do just that. I left the same way Pit did, just quietly leaving. As I walked out, I kept my eyes averted away from Julius. It's not that I felt he was mad at me; it's just that I didn't want him to see me when I could possibly be, at this very moment, 'Public Enemy #1' or in this case, 'Angel Enemy #1'.

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**Julius' P.O.V.**

The moment Tiffany left the room, I felt horrible for forcing her to show us her powers. "_Oh my, what have I done?_" "Maybe my plan," I quietly stated, "was not such a good one after all." I stood alone in the room for a little while until I finally decided that I needed to make my wrong a right. "Guards!" I shouted, my voice filling up the empty room. Immediately the two guards that I had sent to go get Pit and Tiffany earlier had come running into the room. "_They probably expected to find danger._"

"Did you call for us Julius?" the girl guard asked first. She looked around the room nervously in search for any form of threat.

"Yes, which way did Pit go?"

"He took a left down the hallway after coming through the door. Is everything alright? He looked disturbed," the male responded quickly.

"Let's just say that I need to find him before he does something he might regret."

"Ah, running off on another quest, huh? Yeah he would do that." I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Yeah, let's go with that," I replied with a fake smile. Even though his comment was pretty funny (I'd have to tell Pit about it later), this was supposed to be a serious moment. So I shook off the humor and burst through the doors. I took a left down the hallway that Pit went through, thinking of all the places he would go. "Main Street? Of course not, he hates crowds. The main hall? No, I'm already here…Think Julius, think! Where would Pit go when he feels sad and/or emotional…" I was having a hard time trying to find out where he would've gone because usually Pit is found with his army or else by Palutena's side….."Wait! That's it!" I quickly ran to Palutena's palace, where a large statue of her was located out front. Sure enough I saw him standing there, looking up at her in despair. I walked the rest of the way there and didn't say anything until I knew I could get his attention. "Pit? Are you alright?" It took him a bit before he answered me.

"I'm not sure. I feel many things right now, and none of them are good."

"What do you think now? Now that part of our mystery has been solved-"

"None of it has been solved!" he yelled. He chose that moment to look at me. "All of what had just happened…..it didn't make anything any better." He looked back up at Palutena's face, probably wanting to hear her voice again for some help with his situation.

"Pit I know you must be feeling pain and anger, but please let it go. It is not healthy for an angel to harbor such emotions. Actually, it is not healthy for anyone to embrace those moods," I stated sounding like I was talking to a class of student angels.

"Let it go? Julius, how can I let it go? She was our goddess, and she has been gone for three years now! I know you've seen how Angel Land has started to deteriorate from its original state. Our land used to be so bright and happy. Ever since Palutena left, this place has been getting gloomier by the day. You honestly can't tell me that _this _is healthy for all of us." I looked once at my surroundings and noticed that the place had a certain thing missing from it. Palutena's essence. Her light made everything living and non-living in this world have a godly glow. That glow seemed to be diminished, but somehow it's still there.

"Pit, yes I have noticed that everything and everyone seem to be glum but I think you're missing something big."

"What I'm missing is my goddess and her control over Angel Land." Now he's starting to get on my last nerve.

"No, see you still don't see it. Yes, things around here are sad, but there is still a slight radiance coming out of everything," I stated.

"…You're just hallucinating."

"And you're just being stubborn," I came back at him while crossing my arms. Pit looked appalled by what I had just said.

"_I'm_ being stubborn? You just had to go and butt into Tiffany's life when no one asked for you to do that. You just had to find out more about her. Personally I would rather have never heard that news that she'd told us, because now I can't seem to find the courage to forgive her for what she'd done!" Everything around us was suddenly quiet. Even the angels that were walking on the streets paused to look at us in curiosity.

"Haha, nothing to see here folks. Move along," I told them all with a fake smile. Sure enough, they all bought it and continued on their merry ways. I turned towards Pit and lowered my voice so that only he could hear me. "Pit, if you're going to make another outburst like that then may I suggest that you go back to your room and do that? Nobody here needs to see one of the Angel Council members breaking down in frustration. It will only cause more trouble around here than we need." Pit looked at me sternly before turning his back away from me and walking towards Palutena's Palace to head to his room. I sighed and quietly told myself, "Well he is one problem that needs to be fixed but for now I need to find Tiffany."

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**Tiffany's P.O.V. (after Tiffany left the main hall)**

"_God dang it! I should really pay more attention to my surroundings,_"I began thinking to myself. I couldn't believe it, not only did I have no idea where I was going but I ended up following Pit to a statue of Palutena. "_I should've watched to see which hallway he was going down. I'm so stupid! I'm most likely the last person he'd want to see right now._" Even though I knew he didn't want to be near me at the moment, I felt the urge to watch him anyways. Just to see what he'd do. So I took this moment to hide behind a large stone column connected to one of the many buildings in the area. I watched Pit with worry as he stared at Palutena's statue. I continued to watch him until I saw Julius, out of the corner of my eye, come running out of the main hall. "What could he be up to?" Julius slowly came to a stop next to Pit and started talking to him. I couldn't really hear what they were saying until Pit burst out with a loud comment.

"None of it has been solved!" Pit yelled. He looked up at Julius with anger flowing through his eyes. I never thought I'd see an angel so mad in all my life…..actually I never thought I'd EVER see an angel in my life.

"Pit I know you must be feeling pain and anger, but please let it go," Julius told Pit. "_Oh god, they're talking about me!" _Of course I am paranoid human. I'm going to think that anybody is talking about me once I hear something interesting that could in any way be related to me.

"What I'm missing is my goddess and her control over Angel Land," Pit said with a strict tone of voice. He appeared to be trying to get some sort of point across. I noticed that several angels that were passing by me were giving me funny looks. I could only guess what they were thinking.

"_I'm_ being stubborn?" Pit's yelling caught my attention immediately. "You just had to go and butt into Tiffany's life when no one asked for you to do that. You just had to find out more about her. Personally I would rather have never heard that news that she'd told us, because now I can't seem to find the courage to forgive her for what she'd done!" The angels in the surrounding area all came to an abrupt halt and stopped everything that they were doing. This moment felt so intense. So many things went through my mind at once. "_Great, he really is mad at me." "Crap, I really shouldn't be here!" "Now I feel like I'm going to cry…." _Oh no. A tear was starting to well up in my eye, but I held it back as well as I could.

"Haha, nothing to see here folks. Move along," Julius told all of the angels that were nearby. They all did as they were told and kept moving on to do their errands. I kept watching Julius and Pit but it didn't seem like a whole lot was going on anymore. Julius was telling Pit something and then Pit stormed off towards Palutena's Palace. I stopped listening to them. I didn't want to hear anymore. I just couldn't bear it. I mean, I didn't do anything wrong. If anything he should be blaming those demons that kidnapped me in the first place.

"Excuse me miss. Are you alright?" a small voice next to me asked.

"Huh?" I turned to see a small angel girl watching me intently. "Oh, yeah I'm fine." She looked to be about six years old and had long brown hair and blue eyes.

"You don't look fine. You look sad."

"I'm not sad," I told her matter-of-factly while wiping away a tear that had crept out. "It's just allergy season."

The little girl cocked her head to the side and asked, "What are al-ur-geez?" I chuckled at how cute she was.

"I'm sure it's nothing you'd need to be afraid of," I told her with a smile. Something in my mind was urging me to ask her where her parents were. "What's your name?"

"Ophelia," she replied with a grin.

"Ophelia, now there's a name you don't hear every day."

"What's your name?"

"Tiffany."

"…..And you say my name is something you don't hear every day?" she asked, still grinning from ear to ear. "Tiffany doesn't even sound Greek." She looked behind my back, probably trying to find wings.

"That's because it-"

"Oh! Are you the human that everyone keeps talking about?" Ophelia quickly asked me.

"People are talking about me?" I asked her with a raised brow.

"Not people silly. Angels!" she exclaimed with glee. "And yes, they _are_ talking about you. Good things too might I add."

"Good things?" I was puzzled by this. I thought I would end up becoming everyone's enemy today.

"Mmhmm! They all say that there's something about you that is special. Everyone seems to see a glowing light around you. In fact, I even see it." She stepped back a little to get a better look at this 'light' surrounding me. Her eyes squinted to the point where they looked shut.

I laughed and said, "Are you sure that's not just the sun in your eyes?" I leaned over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Mam, we are standing in the shade. There is no sunlight in here," she replied with a giggle. Now I felt stupid.

"Um, yeah, I knew that. I was just testing you to make sure you haven't gone crazy." Ophelia was still watching me to see if I would to tell her the result she earned. "And you passed!"

"I did? Yay!" she shouted with pure happiness. Little kids are adorable when they feel that they've accomplished something. "_I'm glad _she's _at least feeling happy_," I thought to myself. That thought reminded me of why I was close to crying earlier.

"Hey Ophelia, where are your parents?"

"Well, my daddy is at work. Otherwise, my mommy is in the store right there buying some groceries," Ophelia said while pointing to a nearby grocery store. "She'll be out soon."

"Hmm, alright well I gotta go, but it was nice meeting you," I told her with a smile. My feet were already dragging me back to my room in the palace, so I quickly turned around to wave goodbye.

"You too!" she shouted back while waving. Before I completely turned around, I got a glimpse of her mom coming out of the store with bags of groceries. By the time I finally turned around to watch where I was going, Ophelia was running up to her mom and hugging her. All of these angels seem so nice. If I could stay, I gladly would. "_Too bad I pissed off the one angel whose opinion means a lot around here_."

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**Akhos' P.O.V.**

"God am I tired," I said to myself. I'd been using my magic all day trying to make portals that would get me into Angel Land, but each time I created one I'd failed to reach my destination. My feet were begging me to stop, but I couldn't. Not with what Ahriman had told me just before I left.

"_If you do not return with the human girl, then do not come back at all._" Ahriman's words hung around my head. Once again I went over to a tree and placed my hand on it, palm down. Once I said the magic spell, a portal was conjured up and I walked through it triumphantly. Sadly, upon reaching the other side, my triumphant smile turned into a frown.

"This is getting ridiculous! My portals still don't appear to be working at all!" How do I keep managing to pop up in the Overworld every time I make a portal? I angrily walked over to a different tree and repeated what I had done before. Except when I went through the portal this time, I actually made it to Angel Land.

"Well it's about damn time!" I exclaimed. Noticing that I had said this quite loudly, I threw a hand up to my mouth as a way to not make any more sound. I heard guards come running in my direction, so I quickly ran over to a shadowy area where I could blend in. Moments later, one of them came.

"Did you hear that loud yell?" the man asked his comrade.

"Well with you yelling over who won that last poker game, you sore loser, I'd say the yelling you heard was all in your head," the girl came running up behind him.

"But I heard something, and it came from over here!"

"Not another word. I don't want to hear it!...And quit trying to change the subject! Just because I won doesn't mean you need to become Medusa over it." The girl guard instantly turned around and headed back towards a large building that appears to be Palutena's Palace.

"But Cindy!" the male angel yelled after his co-worker. As he headed back, he dragged his feet along the ground as a sign of moping. Once I knew the coast was clear I came back out of the shadows and scowled.

"That was a little too close. I'm guessing the human is in the palace since that appears to be where all of the guards are at." I looked up in the sky and noticed that it was still day time. "Maybe I'll need to wait until night comes around. That way there won't be too many guards looking out for her." A slight breeze blew on my back as I sat down in the darkness and quietly waited for my chance to strike. "I'm coming for you, human." I spat the last word out as if it word poison. "Enjoy the light while you still can, because once you've been abducted you'll never see it again. I'll make sure of that." I grinned knowing that I would get my revenge on her after all.

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**Author's Note:** **Woofta! This is definitely one of my longer chapters. I hope you enjoyed it! And for the first time you got to see what was going on inside Akhos' mind…..REVENGE! Will he get his way, or will an unlikely hero stop him? Stay tuned until next time to find out! (Okay I can't help it. I love leaving you all with a cliff hanger! Mwahahaha! It makes you want to read more.)**

**[$(1)$] – s Worth of Music****: Today's song will be one that I've been listening to just recently. Here is "Hello (Original Mix)" by **_**Martin Solveig **_**ft.**_** Dragonette. **_**Enjoy!**

**http:/www. aimini .net/view/?fid=Bqmy63cAyqga7VlLBzDH**


	16. Chapter 15 Where I Go, Trouble Follows

**Chapter 15 – Where I Go, Trouble Follows**

**Author's Note****: ****Yes****, ****another ****update****! ****This ****entire ****chapter ****is ****going ****to ****be ****from ****Tiffany's ****point****-****of****-****view****, ****but ****I ****still ****put ****it ****in ****there ****so ****you ****don't ****forget****. ****;) ****As ****an ****added ****bonus****, ****this ****is ****currently ****the ****longest ****chapter ****I've ****written****! ****Clocking ****in ****at ****over ****5****,****000 ****words****, ****this ****chapter ****is ****a ****beast****! ****Lots ****of ****action****, ****lots ****of ****description****, ****and ****lots ****of ****work****…****but ****it's ****done!**

**WARNING****: …a lot happens in this chapter. :)**

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**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

As I was heading back to my room, I found Julius standing outside of it. He looked like he was waiting for me. He quickly looked over his shoulder after hearing the hallway door behind me click shut. "Tiffany! There you are! I've been waiting for you to," he looked back at my door and continued to say, "answer, but I guess you're not in your room after all." He gave me a big smile and then chuckled at his silliness. His laughing caused me to grin.

"Nope, I've been walking around Angel Land instead." He stopped laughing and his face instantly turned into a serious expression.

"Just walking around?"

"Yeah, why?" "_He doesn't know that I was watching him and Pit argue does he?_" I thought to myself.

"If I was you, I wouldn't do that. You might fall into some serious trouble. If you ever get the urge to walk around again, might I suggest having a body guard go with you?"

"A body guard? For what?" I asked him with a small tone of impatience.

"Like I said, around here a human such as yourself might end up getting into trouble. You clearly have powers and that is something that anyone would like to get their hands on, evil or not." That being said, I actually started to reconsider the whole idea of having a body guard follow me around. "_Hey if the guy is hot, I say why not?"_ I smirked at my thoughts. Suddenly his face became inquired. "Speaking of your powers, you said that they are Palutena's, correct?"

"Yes," I replied.

"This has been bothering me all day, but how exactly are they Palutena's powers?" Julius asked quizzically. I leaned against my door as a way to support myself for the long explanation that was quickly approaching.

"Well, when I first met her. You know, back when I was three years old?" When he nodded I continued on. "She whispered something into my ear saying that she was going to give me a part of herself so that she may live on…inside of me." Julius' face looked extremely confused so I had to start thinking of another way to reword what I had just said. "Um…"

"Live on? You make it sound like her soul is trapped inside of your body." A moment of silence passed between us. Realizing that I didn't reply, he looked down to think this all through. After that quiet second, his body jerked slightly out of its frozen state. He raised his head to meet mine and told me, "You're kidding…" I shook my head. "So Palutena is stuck inside of you?" As he said this he poked me in the chest.

"It appears that way." He took his finger off of my chest and furrowed his brow.

"How come you didn't tell Pit and me this earlier?"

"I was getting there, until Pit made the moment awkward and kinda stormed out of the room," I complained. Julius laughed at my comment and then stood in front of me smiling.

"So that is why Angel Land appears to have regained some of its glow again. Palutena's presence inside of you is what has caused our land to slightly return to its once glorious condition." His statement made me smile, but then I remembered what he and Pit were talking about earlier. My smile began to fade.

"So me being here isn't a curse to you?" I asked him.

"No, and as far as I'm concerned you need to be here." I let out a quiet sigh, causing Julius to look at me with worry again. "Is something bothering you?"

"What are we gonna do about Pit? He's probably still mad at me for God knows what."

"I can just tell him what you told me. Listening to you talk is probably not at the top of his list of things to do right now," he studied my face and then added, "no offense." I felt my smile fade the moment Pit was brought up in the conversation but hearing Julius tell me that Pit didn't want to listen to me anymore made my entire body feel cold.

"That's okay. I understand." I looked up at his face and saw a worried expression, so I gave him a tiny smile as reassurance that I was fine. "I'm getting kinda tired. I should go to bed." With that said I turned around and opened my door to reveal a dark room lit up by the moonlight.

"Um, alright. Let me know if you need anything….like a body guard." His last sentence gave me a smile that would last up until I lay down in bed.

"Goodnight Julius."

"Goodnight Tiffany. May Palutena be with you in your dreams…literally." I laughed one final time until I shut the door completely. I sleepily walked around my room and got ready for bed.

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**Tiffany's P.O.V. (in her dream)**

"Alrighty Palutena, it looks like I'm back!" I silently said to myself with glee.

"It appears that you are right."

I turned around and saw the ever-so-beautiful goddess in all of her glory sitting up in her throne smiling down at me. "Were you waiting for me?" I asked her with a smile. Her face darkened as she stood up and slowly walked down the miniature staircase. "_Something's up_," I thought to myself.

"You are correct. Something is up." Just as she said this, it occurred to me that I'd completely forgotten the fact that she can read my mind. Whoops. She reached me in no time at all and stood way taller than me. "I am having strange feelings that trouble has arrived in Angel Land."

"Trouble? Like what kind of trouble?" I asked nervously.

"I'm not entirely sure. Like I said, these are just feelings, but you can never be too careful. I believe Julius has the right idea of putting you under watchful eyes at all times."

"This is because I have your powers, isn't it?"

"Not just that. Some people may already know that I am housing myself in your body and have been doing so for many years. Just take my warning with care, please?"

"Well, when a goddess tells you please, you can't say no," I told her with a smile hoping that she would take it as a joke. She returned my expression with a grin.

"Since I know you'll take me um…seriously, I have decided that I shall now train you." I looked at her in stupidity. I was completely dumbfounded. "_Did she say she would 'train' me_?" "Yes I did," she replied to my thoughts.

"Train me with what exactly?"

"Why my powers of course. I really do want to make sure that your safety is secure, especially in my realm. I have decided to make it my first priority."

"Wow, I'm honored." My face was beaming by this point. I was getting trained on how to use my powers by the goddess herself. Who wouldn't be happy by that?

"Excellent, first I want you to hold out your hand like this." She gracefully opened her hand to show me a ball of light bouncing up and down on her palm. My eyes widened in astonishment as I tried to take in everything that she had just shown me, but she demonstrated that way too fast. "Now you try."

"Alright," I said with a bit of nervousness. As much as I tried I just couldn't get my hand to do that graceful thing that she'd done. I wasn't exactly born to be elegant and poised as much as a goddess. So you can only imagine the way I looked trying to copy her movements. She stood next to me constantly showing me how it's done, and eventually I did get a ball of light to appear in my hand…..you know, before it shot off above our heads and crashed into the ceiling causing many pieces of rubble to rain onto the floor.

"Hmm….well it's a start!" she yelled gleefully. I looked up at her in fear.

"Lady, if this is the start, I don't wanna know how it ends." Her laugh echoed throughout the empty chamber causing my head to hurt.

"Oh Tiffany, my powers are quite difficult to master so don't feel bad. I'm surprised you've managed to make a light ball so quickly. We've only been working on this for about a half an hour."

"A half an hour….that's it? Oh my God, I'm so freaking tired." I sat against a wall and leaned my head back so that it was facing up toward the ceiling. I closed my eyes in relief knowing that I at least had this moment to rest, even for just a second.

"Oh that's right. That's one of the drawbacks of my powers. They use up your energy, so try not to use too much of it alright?"

"Great. So now what am I supposed to do in a fight?"

"Well now that you seem to have an idea of what my light ball attack looks like, I suppose I can teach you how to make a light barrier." My eyes quickly snapped open.

"A defense move? Won't that still drain my energy?" I asked.

"Yes, but not as much as an attack, if I remember correctly. Plus, my goal tonight was to teach you one offense, and one defense move."

"Okay, so how do you make a shield-wall-barrier thing?" I said as I started getting up.

She chuckled and replied while sticking up one finger, "First of all, it's a barrier. Second, it doesn't matter what position your body is in so you can stay sitting there." I plopped right back to the ground at her idea.

"Now what do I do?"

"Now I need you to raise one or both hands and face them towards me." I did exactly what she said and raised both hands, palms facing her. "Good, now I need you to conjure up as much energy as you think you will need to surround yourself with." I closed my eyes so that I could concentrate. Judging by my size I wouldn't need too much power, but then again I'd hate to see what happens if the barrier doesn't fit. As I began trying to force energy into my hands I felt a tickly feeling shoot through my arm and go into my hand. I waited until it seemed like a minute had gone by. When I opened my eyes, I saw my newly created barrier. "Great, except…." When I looked back at my barrier it wasn't even completely surrounding me. Instead of looking like a bubble of light engulfing me, it looked more like a yellowy, paper-thin shield.

"Aww man!" "_So much for a strong defense_," I thought to myself. Sadness filled my eyes as the goddess began trying to cheer me up.

"No, no it's okay. Like I said, my powers can be quite taxing to use. All you need is a good night's sleep and you'll be bouncing off of the walls with energy ready to be used." I looked at her with exhaustion and hopelessness written across my face.

"Isn't my body sleeping right now?"

"…oh yeah." Her face made me laugh. She looked super confused, yet happy. Once she noticed it, my laughter made her confusion go away leaving a toothy grin. "I'd forgotten that I'm not actually in my own body. As people in your world would say, 'My bad.' I guess my powers are more exhausting when used by humans than they are by immortals."

"That's alright Palutena. You don't mind if we cut this dream short do you? I'm really tired and need some rest." My eyelids were already half-closed as the room began to dim.

"Go right ahead Tiffany. At least I gave you an idea of what my powers are like. Just make sure you practice them back in reality, okay?"

I yawned and managed to say something close to, "Okay," before falling over onto the cold floor.

* * *

**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

When I woke up, I realized that I was on the floor with my blankets tangled around my legs. "_I must have fallen out of bed_," I thought to myself. I began kicking my legs to untangle myself but that didn't turn out to be such a great idea. As I continued to attempt freeing myself, I heard a soft knock on my door.

"Tiffany? It's Pit. Can I come in?" I froze when I heard it was him. "_Ah shit…_" I thought. Now I was frantically kicking at my sheets, but as I was doing so I kept kicking my bed and the floor. This caused loud banging sounds to emanate throughout my room. Right when I thought I had them off, the blankets on the bed all fell on top of me. I heard the door creak open just as I was being clobbered by an avalanche of cloth. "Um….Tiffany?" I slowly peeked out from under the comforter, sheets, and blankets to see Pit with a worried look on his face.

"Hehehe, heeeyy Pit. What's up?" I asked him with a big smile. His worried tone quickly turned into one of joyous laughter as I continued to lie on the floor.

"May I ask what you are doing?" he said between fits of chuckling.

"I'm thinking I fell off the bed." I was still smiling as I heard him laugh some more. He opened the door some more and took a step in.

"You think?" he asked while closing the door behind himself.

"Yeah, cause I woke up on the floor with my legs tangled up in the blankets."

"That must have been some dream you had. I could hear the banging all the way down the hall. It startled me so much that I had to come find out what was causing it."

"Well, now I feel bad," I said as I coyly pulled the blankets over my face. His footsteps were faint but I could hear them coming over to me. Then he slowly kneeled down and grabbed at the blanket that covered my face. When I could see his face, he appeared to be sad.

"Please don't feel bad. I couldn't sleep anyways."

I tilted my head to the side and asked him, "Why's that?"

"I have a lot going on right now, but all I could think about right now was how I was being so mean to you earlier. I don't know what came over me." Silence fell over us like a cloak, but then I broke it.

"Like you said, you have a lot going on. It's not your fault."

"Yes it is. I'm an angel of light. I should be happy and friendly, not gloomy and hateful."

"What does that have to do with your problems?"

"I guess I look at it like this. Whenever I look in a mirror, I see myself as an angel who is in charge of so much more than he can bear. Everything is becoming such a headache for me. I have no idea how Palutena expected me to keep Angel Land from crumbling into ruins, especially when I can't even control my emotions." Poor guy, he's so depressed right now. It's no wonder why he's been having a hard time controlling his feelings. I wanted to move but when I attempted it I realized that I was still stuck under the blankets.

"You know, I'd give you a comforting hug right now, but I'm still stuck," I stated with a grin on my face.

"Oh! Right, I'm sorry." It took us about a minute, but I finally got free from the fabric. I carefully stood up, while stumbling a little bit, and walked the short distance toward the angel to give him a hug. Alright I admit it; I have no idea how to hug an angel. I was too afraid of touching his wings on his back, because God knows what'll happen. So I gave him an…..awkward version of a hug, but we both just laughed it off anyways.

"Please don't be sorry." Again, more silence followed as we continued to hug for a while. This time, however, Pit decided to break it.

"By the way, Julius told me everything that you told him."

"And?" I broke away from the hug so that I could look at his face.

"…I'm sorry," he replied quickly with a half-smile. I gave him a playful punch in the shoulder. "Ow…"

"Would you stop saying sorry? Geez, you sound worse than my friend right now."

"Worse?" he asked nervously with that half-smile still on his face.

"Yeah, my friend is the type of person who says sorry to a wall after she runs into it." We both laughed hysterically to my comment.

"And I'm worse than that?" Pit asked, still laughing.

"Well, if you keep saying sorry, you'll get there."

"Am I interrupting something?" Pit and I both stopped laughing and looked at the door to find Julius staring at us in amazement.

"Hey Julius. What's up?" I asked him with a grin.

"Funny. You told me the same thing when I found you lying on the floor covered in bed sheets," Pit interrupted. I elbowed him playfully, and he elbowed me back.

"Lying on the floor covered in blankets? I presume that means that you were sleeping and had a dream." Julius didn't ask a question, but I answered him anyways.

"Yes, and it was very interesting."

"So you saw Palutena again?" Julius asked.

"Yep, oh by the way. She agrees with you that trouble has arrived in Angel Land. So she started training me on how to use her powers. Needless to say, I'm quite dangerous," I stated 'proudly' while crossing my arms over my chest.

"Dangerous in a good way, or bad?" Pit asked curiously.

"…Pretty bad," I said while containing my laughter. "I tried making a light ball thing, and I ended up breaking the ceiling. There was rubble everywhere."

"That just means that you need to practice," Pit replied with a smile. "If you want I could help. I've been around Palutena long enough to see how her powers kinda work."

"I'd like that. Although you might have to watch out for my killer newbie attacks. They're pretty deadly." Pit and Julius laughed hysterically, but Julius quickly added his own statement into the conversation.

"That sounds like an interesting time and all, but for now I suggest we all go back to bed." I hadn't even realized that it was still night time. Sure enough, when I looked out of my big porch windows, all I could see were stars and the moon. Suddenly a yawn escaped my mouth. "_Wow, I must still be pretty tired_." Julius and Pit were both looking at me waiting to see what I would say about this.

"Yeah, I agree. A little more sleep does sound pretty good to me."

"Alright then. Pit, let's give the lady some privacy," Julius said as he started pushing Pit toward the door. I gave them both a little wave before they shut the door. I yawned once more as I began putting my blankets back on my bed. Once that was done, I jumped into the heap of cloth and looked up at the ceiling. "_Now that I think about it, I don't really wanna go to bed just yet_." It was true, I knew I was tired but I didn't want to sleep for some reason. I sat up in bed and looked around the room. Everything seemed alright. Nothing was out of the ordinary, so I got up and walked over to the porch doors. When I opened them, more moonlight leaked into the room. I stepped outside and felt a breeze blowing on my right side. Everything looked like a dream, I even felt like I was dreaming but I knew better than that. My body felt like it was drugged as I lazily walked over to the edge of the porch.

When I looked over the balcony, I saw a stone figure standing in the middle of a flower garden. My curiosity got the better of me because now I wanted to know who the statue was supposed to be. I found a vine leading down to the miniature garden and eased myself down carefully. A tapping sound was heard when my feet touched the stony path. Quietly, so that I wouldn't wake anyone up, I walked around the statue until I came to the front and saw who it was.

"Pit…I didn't know you had a statue," I said to myself inquisitively.

"There are a lot of things about this world that you don't know." I gasped loudly at the somewhat familiar voice. My breathing sped up like a racecar as I looked around nervously. I held my breath for a few seconds so I could pick up any signs of life near me. When I heard footsteps approaching me from behind I turned around quickly only to come face to face with Akhos. My eyes grew double in size as I realized that he was back. "You miss me?"

"No…..what are you doing here?" I asked, spitting the words at him in hate. He gave me a wicked grin, showing off his sharp white teeth.

"Aww, now you've hurt my feelings," he replied while taking a small knife out of his pocket. At this point I realized, "_Crap, I have no weapons…..except Palutena's powers but I don't even know how to fully use them yet!_" I took a small step backward as he started to advance toward me step by step. "Not only did you hurt my feelings in the short time that I've known you, but you've also damaged my pride that moment you'd escaped from me. For that…..you must pay!" His eyes narrowed as he focused on his target. Once he knew where to strike he lunged forward and dashed toward me with hatred in his eyes. "_His speed is incredible, just like before," _I thought to myself_._ I had no time to react as his knife made a slit in my left arm. My scream bounced off of the walls that surrounded our battle. Pain was shooting up my arm as blood trickled onto the stone path. "You know what surprises me? I would've thought that these bozos would have taught you a thing or two on defense just to keep you protected, but I guess I was wrong. This is just going to be a fast and very boring fight." I looked up at him and shook my head.

"Don't count me out just yet," I said as I struggled to stand up.

"Why? Because that goddess that is trapped inside of you is going to stop me?" I gasped loudly. "Yeah that's right. I heard everything you told those two in your room up there. That Julius guy is quite loud." I began grinding my teeth together in anger.

"So you were down here this whole time listening to everything that we said?"

"That and I'm the one that lead you down here into my trap. My spells are so powerful they give you that euphoric feeling so that you have no idea what's going on. So basically yes I was listening to everything, and might I say having Palutena stuck inside of you is a blessing to me. As soon as I kill you, I will receive an amazing reward." While he was talking I was secretly forming a light ball in my right hand behind my back. "Ahriman will let me return home and soon after that his plan to rule over this dimension will be accomplished!"

"I don't think so." I threw my hand in front of me and saw a ball of light sitting in my palm. Sure it wasn't as big as I wanted it to be, but at least it was something. The amount of energy that it took just to make this small orb was incredible. Exhaustion almost overtook me as I aimed for any part of his body and chucked the ball at him as hard as I could manage. Sadly, I'm not exactly a strong person who can bench 250 pounds. So as soon as the ball collided with his chest, he stumbled a bit but regained his composure in no time. He didn't even wince in pain. "Crap…" I whispered to myself as I fell down on my knees again.

"Was that supposed to do something?" he asked me while trying to hold back a laugh. He ran up to me with lightning-quick speed and grabbed me aggressively by the throat. Slowly he lifted me up while I gasped for air. "You little pest, I should just kill you now. That's all Ahriman wants to do with you anyways." As Akhos pointed his knife's blade at my throat, I heard distant running and the opening of a glass door.

"Freeze!" yelled a voice from my balcony. Due to my lack of oxygen, I wasn't able to focus on who had said that.

"What makes you think I'd do that?" As soon as he asked this he removed me from the choking position that he held me in and moved me to his side, pinning down both of my arms. Now if I even tried to do my kung-fu defense move that I'd used on him before, he'd just block it off like it was nothing. Plus to top it all off, my head was still feeling dizzy from the shortness of breath so I still wasn't able to think clearly. I gave a small cough as my lungs desperately tried to fill with air.

"I believe you don't have a choice." I recognized that voice. It was Julius, so I'm just assuming the first voice was Pit since that one sounded a little more like him. As I looked around I noticed some of the guards from earlier were here, each holding a weapon resembling a bow or sword. All of them had a look of impatience as they raised their weapons, preparing for battle. Even Pit, up on the balcony, had his bow ready and aimed for Akhos. However, instead of looking impatient, he looked determined. "_I guess that's why he's the captain of Palutena's army_," I thought to myself. "_He's one of the only one's here that has a clear head during battle._"

"Akhos let her go!" Pit yelled. Looking around again, I noticed some of the angels were advancing on Akhos and he was near clueless of it.

"Aww, you know my name," Akhos said with a toothy grin.

"Of course I do. How could I forget? You were there the day Palutena was killed."

"Oh shut it! Quit acting like I don't know! Your goddess isn't dead! I heard everything that you all said in that room up there. This little human has the light goddess trapped inside of her." Akhos then leaned down to my ear and whispered, "You're quite valuable now, you know." I looked away in disgust as his warm breath slid across my neck. Not a second too soon, a little centurion that was hiding on top of Pit's statue shot an arrow at Akhos' right arm, the one arm that held me down. He let out a snarl as he dropped me. Once I fell to the ground, the surrounding guards began shooting arrows and charging with their swords. I figured that was my cue to get out of there, so I started crawling out of the way as fast as I could so that I wouldn't get caught in the middle of a huge fight. Noticing that he had no chance of winning, Akhos said, "I'm clearly outnumbered here, but I'll be back." He rapidly threw his left arm, his good arm at the moment, onto the side of the statue and formed a portal and jumped in just before the guards holding swords could reach him.

"Men, halt!" Pit shouted his orders once more. His soldiers did as they were told and remained where they were standing, not even moving an inch. It was almost a little creepy in my eyes. I was still sitting on the ground holding onto my left arm when I heard the beating of wings behind me. I rotated my body around to see Pit and Julius jumping down from the balcony and flapping their wings so that they would land gracefully. Julius was the first to reach ground and quickly ran over to my side to take a look at my injury. Once Pit landed he began shouting orders to his troops. "Men, I need two of you to stay here and keep watch in this area." When two men shouted that they would stay, Pit nodded to them in agreement. He then looked at the rest of his men and continued to say, "The rest of you are free to return to your posts."

While Pit walked over to us, Julius calmly asked me, "Tiffany are you alright?" I sluggishly nodded my head yes while my eyes demanded to be shut. He must not have believed me, because then he started to check the rest of my body for any more injuries.

"Is something wrong Julius?" Pit asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure. Tiffany's not responding normally. She nodded her head that she was fine, but it didn't seem right so I'm checking to see if she was hurt anywhere else."

"Maybe she's just really tired." Pit yawned a little bit before continuing his statement. "I know I am." "_Oh good, at least he understands…..I think. Do either of them realize that I tried to use Palutena's powers?_" I thought to myself dazedly.

"Perhaps, but I still think she should be brought to the infirmary just in case." Somehow, Julius managed to stand me up but he couldn't get me into his arms.

"Here I'll take her," Pit asked, allowing Julius to place me in his arms. Pit picked me up gently and swiftly, having me place my arms around his neck. I felt pretty stupid because I was so weak and useless at the moment that I had to be carried to a doctor even though the only thing that happened to me was a huge drain of energy, a lack of oxygen to my brain, and a deep cut in my left arm. Before I would let him take me away I tried to speak to Julius.

"Julius?" My voice made me sound like I'd just woken up from a very long nap. I think it startled Pit a little because he seemed to jump at the sound of my voice.

"Yes Tiffany?" Julius asked eagerly. "Is something wrong?" I ignored his second question and just went straight to the point.

"I'm beginning to like the idea of having a body guard." Julius smiled and then looked up at Pit.

"You can take her away now. I feel she is going to be just fine."

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**Author's Note****: God, I am so sorry for how this turned out. Action scenes are the worst thing for me to write. If anyone has any suggestions I'd **_**love**_** to hear them.**

**[$(1)] – s Worth of Music****: Today's song was made by a group of kids that just graduated from my school. It's a really catchy song (at least to me it is), but they swear and talk about drugs throughout the whole thing. Plus it is also sort of in the 'hip-hop' genre.**

www. youtube .com/watch?v=7RXbImqw_qI

**Profile Update****:** **I have just made a new poll where you can vote on which of my OCs from this story is your favorite. Go vote now!**


	17. Chapter 16 I Hear Dead Goddesses

**Chapter 16 – I Hear Dead Goddesses**

**Author's Note****: *laughing nervously* Hehehe…hehe…he…he…I'm sorry. This one took a really long time to update because of several reasons.**

**1. I am finishing my college class.**

**2. I've been reading lots of books (it truly is a hobby of mine that I get caught up in very easily).**

**3. Visiting my future college.**

**4. I'm lazy.**

**5. Studying for an AP Psychology test.**

**6. Graduation.**

**7. Graduation parties (including my own which is coming up).**

**8. And the biggest reason of them all…Writer's Block! Yes, I know what you're thinking. Okay probably not, but I'm just gonna say what I'm thinking anyways. At the beginning of my story I stated that I'd had this whole thing written out. Truthfully, I'd only had the first seven chapters written down on notebook paper. When I said that I had the whole thing written out, I meant that I had the **_**outline**_** written down on paper. I guess I also forgot to mention the fact that this story went under some serious construction. Things changed dramatically! This being said, my outline that I'd written out earlier HAD to be changed. I'm surprised I'd made it this far without getting Writer's Block…eh, it was bound to come sooner or later I guess.**

**Again I'm very sorry for this inconvenience. I didn't mean for it to happen. When you notice something is wrong with your story when it's too late, this kind of stuff just happens. I will continue to write it though, so don't worry. ;)**

* * *

**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

"When did I fall asleep?" I ask myself aloud. I wake up in a hospital-ish type of room where the walls are all a marble white color and a large window is shown looking out towards the whole of Skyworld. The light shining in from the window causes shining golden rays of daylight to fly around the room, blinding me in the process. I think I even saw a few rainbows here and there. A sound coming from the side of my bed wakes me up from my blind stupor. Looking over to my right, sitting next to the window, is Pit, sleeping like a baby with a smile plastered on his face. "_How long has he been sitting there?_" I think to myself.

Trying to remember what happened when I was last awake only gives me a headache, so I give up trying to retain that information. Instead of focusing on remembering how I got here, I try to remember when was the last time I ate anything. "_Have I eaten anything since I got here to Skyworld?_" Judging by the sick feeling I have and the low growl coming from my stomach, I would take that as a huge no.

Sliding out of bed I realize that I'm not wearing my usual clothes. A cold breeze from the open window glides across this new cloth that covers me. I stand up weakly and look down at my new wardrobe. What I see is a long white dress with open slits on the sides that reach just above my knees. A stringy golden rope belt covers my waistline. As for the upper portion, the dress has mid-quarter sleeves that have a couple of open slits on the sides. The trimming on the edges of the cloth are gold to match the belt that I am wearing. I also appear to be wearing gold warrior sandals that make a tiny clicking sound every time I take a step. "_Wow_," I think to myself. "_If this is how they dress people in hospitals, then they sure know how to make sick people look good_." However that's all I'm able to think before the growling in my stomach guides me toward the door and out the hall.

Once I'm out of my room, I realize that I have no idea where I'm going. Quietly, I walk up to the angel receptionist at her desk at the end of the hallway and ask, "Where's the cafeteria?" I guess I startled her since her body gave a slight jolt as if she was electrocuted and looked up at me with big surprised eyes.

"Oh my! Honey you scared me."

"I'm sorry," I reply, looking down at the floor shyly.

"Oh no, it's not your fault! I'm just getting so caught up in my work. That's all." She finished something on her clipboard and then looked up at me with her full undivided attention, smiling sweetly. "So what did you need?" I look back up at her.

"Well I was wondering where the cafeteria was."

"Go straight down that hall, and take the first left you see," she stated while pointing to my right, down a long-ish looking hallway. "The cafeteria is huge. You really can't miss it. But if all else fails, use your sense of smell. It always smells really nice in that area."

"Thanks Ma'am," I reply nicely. I head down the hallway like she said, and then I take a left. Soon I smelled fruit and sugary sweets just outside a double door entrance. I opened one of the doors quietly to see a large white room with a vaulted ceiling. Windows lined the walls, and everything looked clean. "_Although I guess this is a hospital, so I shouldn't be too surprised that it's really clean_."

The cafeteria was nothing like I thought it would be. It looked similar to a grand dining hall, or a place where a goddess would eat. "_Why thank you Tiffany! That is very kind of you_." I looked around the room confused wondering if someone was talking to me, but then a different idea hit me. I widened my eyes in shock.

"Palutena?" I whispered to myself.

"_Yes?_"

"Oh God…I totally wasn't expecting this to happen." I stare into space, wide-eyed.

"_Hmm... you are right. It appears that I am now able to telepathically contact you now_!" she yelled with excitement.

"How is this possible? Was I hit over the head or something?"

"_No, but maybe the occurrence of your injury has lead to this newly acquired telepathy skill_. _Either that or else we've been connected for so long that it has now come to this_."

"But I wasn't that badly injured was I?" I asked her curiously. People in the room were starting to stare at me awkwardly, so I decided to go sit down at a corner table next to a window.

"_Not really. Your main problem was only exhaustion; however you did get a terrible cut in your left arm, but even that doesn't look like a predicament anymore_." I glanced at my arm and sure enough she was right. My arm looked better, but not completely healed. All that was left of the damage was a white bandage covering my bicep.

"_How did I miss this when I woke up?_" I thought to myself.

"_I'm afraid you are just really oblivious to your surroundings,_" Palutena replied to my inward question with a giggle.

"_You can communicate with me through thoughts too?_"

"_Why_ o_f course! That's what telepathy is_." I didn't need to see her to know that she was smiling at my stupidity.

"Okay just because you're a goddess doesn't mean you get to pick on me. You're still stuck inside of me. So quit making me feel dumb. I just woke up after all," I told her, trying not to sound whiny. "I'm just finding it strange that you're able to communicate with me now."

"_Yes, I am still wondering the same thing. For now though, how about you go get something to eat? Your stomach sounds like it's mad at you_." Once she brought that up, I noticed that my stomach kept grumbling….loudly. So I quickly got up and went over to the long line of food that looked like it was set out as a buffet for a party.

Grabbing food as I go through the line, I keep up a conversation with Palutena. Since I didn't want people to think I was any crazier than they already thought, I decided it would be smarter just to send thoughts to her. "_So Palutena, here's a question that's kinda been bugging me, and don't pick on me if it sounds really stupid, but what's it like living inside of me?_"

"_It has been very interesting, actually. Before I placed myself into your hands long ago, I realize that I had no idea what humans were truly like. For the example, the way they act around each other instead of in the presence of a goddess. Living the life of a human through you has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I have noticed in your world that humans are really not all that different from humans in my world. To be honest I guess I've never given much of my attention to humans at all. For me it's always been about maintaining peace in the heavens. Although there were quite a few times where I helped the humans with growing their crops, making sure that they have plenty of light and-_"

"Palutena, you're rambling," I told her before taking a bite out of a strawberry. She was talking so much that I had plenty of time to grab my food and sit down to start eating. Throughout all of her incoherent blabbering only one thing seemed to stick out to me. "So let me sum up everything you've just said. You've been living the life of a human through me." I tell her with a raised brow.

"_Well as you've normally put it in the past, 'Yup yup!_'" she replied. Her comment made me cough up a bit of strawberry, causing a few wandering eyes to lock on me. I nodded my head a little and gave them a smile.

"What's up?"

An older guy angel that was sitting in the corner of the room decided to yell weakly back to me, "The ceiling!" Apparently these angels had never heard of this phrase before.

"_Ah, figures_," I think to myself while giggling.

"_What, the fact that my angels are not up-to-date on your kind of lingo?_" Palutena asked, intruding on my thoughts.

"_Pretty much_. _That and he's old. So I should've known that he would definitely not understand what I meant." _I went back to eating some more food when suddenly the cafeteria doors flew open with a bang. At first I thought it was just some pissed off patient wanting to get some food, but then I looked up and saw Pit standing there scanning the room in search of something. And then his eyes focused on me. He sighed and then casually walked across the room to my corner next to the window, giving a few 'hellos' to some patients that he passed by.

"Tiffany, I've been looking everywhere for you," he whispers to me as he sits down. "Have you been in here this whole time?"

"Yeah. Did you know I didn't eat anything since I got here in your world?" He sat in his chair dumbfounded by my question. A look of sorrow crossed his face as he thought this over.

"Holy Palutena, I had no idea! I'm so sorry!" He leaned over the table and placed his face in his hands, hiding his embarrassment from me. "I'm such a terrible host," he muttered to himself.

"Oh God, please don't feel bad! I had no idea either." He looked up at me slowly and raised an eyebrow. "I'm not lying, and I'm not kidding. I really had no idea," I told him with a laugh. He looked at me in disbelief but didn't bother to question anything I'd said. Instead he sat back in his chair and looked at the food on my plate.

"How does the angel tart taste?" he asked with a smile.

"Hm?" I ask before I shove something that looks like a slice of cake into my mouth. Pit pointed at the thing I was holding. "Oh this? I don't know. I haven't tried it yet." I take a quick bite out of it and am shocked at how tasty it is. My eyes go wide as I look at him and say with a full mouth, "Holy cow this stuff's amazing!" He laughed at my excitement. Once again the whole room was looking over in our general direction. Pit quieted himself down so as to not attract so much attention, but I felt the nerve to ask them all once again, "What's up?"

"What are you blind? The blasted ceiling!" the same angel from before replied. This time more forcefully. The moment was just too funny that I couldn't hold back my own laughter.

I swivel in my chair and face the man and shout across the room, "Thanks for letting me know!" Pit once again burst out laughing. "I like that guy! He's awesome. That's already the second time today he's told me that!"

"Have you been in here mouthing off to people this whole time while snacking?" Pit questioned me with a hint of laughter still lingering behind.

"No, but I can tell you something that I have been doing."

"Oh, alright. So tell me. What have you been doing while I flew around this whole building looking for you?"

"I was….you were looking for me? What'd I do now?" His face became serious.

"Yes, I was looking for you because when I woke up you were not in your bed where you should have been."

"Yeah, but I was hungry."

"Then you should have woken me up."

"But I didn't want to. You looked like you were having a good dream or something." Pit's face suddenly turned red and he began having a hard time trying to find the right words to say.

"W-what do you mean by that?" he asked me nervously.

"Well, when I woke up I saw you sitting in your little chair with a big grin on your face, so I just kinda figured."

"Oh…I didn't say anything did I?"

"No, why? Did you have an interesting dream that you'd like to talk about?" I asked him with a smirk.

"N-no!" I started laughing again because of his stuttering. "_I wonder what's wrong with him,_" I thought to myself.

"_Hmm, I can't say for sure. I've never seen him act like this before,_" Palutena answered my thought.

"Really?" I ask her.

"Really what?" Pit asked me. He started looking at me with concern.

"Oh nothing. Palutena was just telling me that she'd never seen you act like this before." As soon as I say it, I immediately want to take it back. Not only do I sound like I've gone insane, but now he's probably mad at me for bringing her up in a conversation so casually. Pit's eyes went wide in surprise at hearing her name. I squeezed my eyes shut and pursed my lips for the oncoming crash that was soon to follow this plummeting joyride.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, eyes slightly narrowed. Even though he looked kinda pissed off he didn't sound mad. And even though I regret my words, I can't lie my way out of this one. I mean, come on. He's a freaking angel! He'd probably sense it. Besides, telling the truth seems like the only way out of this one, but I'm not quite ready to do that just yet. I quickly grab my water and start drinking for what seems like a long time while trying to avoid eye contact. "Tiffany, don't do that. I know that trick. I practically invented it here a few years ago," he stated with a smirk. I look over at him for a second and give him a little bit more attention, but I hastily look away and keep drinking my water. "Fine, keep on drinking. I don't mind, but just so you know, you're going to have to stop at some point." He leans back in his chair with a smile. "Yep, whether it's because you need more water, a breath of air, or the fact that you really need to go to the bathroom, it doesn't really matter. Your plan is not fool proof. Trust me. I learned that one the hard way."

"Okay fine," I surrender while placing my almost-empty-glass on the table. "Yes, I can hear Palutena's voice now. Don't ask me how, I just can." He looked like he was ready to say something but I immediately cut him off and say, "And yes, I can also have a conversation with her." Pit sat idle for a minute. Then he sat up straight and looked me in the eye. "_Judging by the look he's giving me, I don't think he's buying what I'm selling._"

"_I don't really know how to answer that but I think you are right_."

"If you really can talk to her, then maybe she can answer my question..."

"Alright then."

"…..that only she can give an answer to. You won't know the answer since you've only been here for the past couple of days."

"Okay. So what's the question?" I ask him eagerly. Pit sat in his chair a little bit longer, wondering what to ask her. When he finally got an idea he leaned forward in his chair slowly, keeping his eyes on mine.

"I'll give her an easy one. What are the Three Sacred Treasures that I required in order to defeat Medusa?" Fear crossed my face as I tried to understand what he was asking. A tiny smirk was playing with the corner of his mouth.

"_That's easy! Holy crap Palutena I have no idea! I've never even heard of those things!_"

"_Relax Tiffany. He wanted me to answer didn't he?_" Palutena replied softly, as if speaking to a child.

"_Yeah, but I can't tell him anything until you give me an answer. So do you know what they are?_" I ask her nervously. Pit was sitting in his chair eagerly waiting to hear what I'd come up with.

"_Yes, just repeat after me. The Wings of Pegasus._"

"Wings of Pegasus." Pit's smirk started to disappear.

"_The Mirror Shield,_" Palutena continued on.

"The Mirror Shield."

"_And lastly, the Arrow of Light._" I took a deep breath and said the last one.

"And the Arrow of Light." Pit's entire face went white, and he looked like he would faint. His eyes went wide in surprise. "Are you okay?" I ask worriedly.

"I don't believe it. Palutena really is inside of you." He started to smile greatly. "And she's still alive." I copied his smile that he was giving me until he immediately jumped up from his chair and started pacing the room. "We need to tell Julius about this! He would be pleased to hear from our Goddess again." He looked over his shoulder at me, probably wondering how all of this sounds to me. As my response, I just give him a blank stare. "You wouldn't mind would you?"

I smile reluctantly and reply, "No of course not. I also think he would be psyched to hear from her again." "_It's just Julius. I mean it's not like he's going to make me talk to everyone in Angel Land._"

"Not just him though. Everyone would be pleased to know that she's alive again. No, I believe we must prove to everyone that she is alive and has returned! Everyone shall rejoice!"

"…_Shit_."

"_Oh dear. He must have really missed me_."

"Ya think?" I mumble to her.

"Are you talking to her now?" Pit asked me excitedly. I leaned back in my chair and looked down at the floor, away from him.

"_Tell him to revise his plan about telling everyone that I'm back. After all, there are still evil forces out there that are targeting you, and if they knew that I was back and safely kept away inside of you then that would just make you an even bigger target._" I look up at Pit slowly before responding to his question.

"Yeah, and she also agrees with me."

"About what?"

"About telling everyone. She feels that it's also a bad idea. There are evil forces out in God knows where, and if they find out that I have a Goddess inside of me then that would give them that much more of a reason to kill me on the spot." Pit's eyes widened in response before he replied.

"That's true. I never thought of that." He laughed and started rubbing the back of his head when he said, "I guess that's why I always trusted Palutena's judgment. She always knew what the right choice was." I sigh in relief and send a silent 'thank you' to Palutena for saving me from Pit's giddiness over her being 'back in Angel Land'. "But can we still tell Julius." He brings out a pocket knife and holds it up while bouncing his eyebrows and grinning maniacally, trying to get his message across. "We can make him promise not to tell anyone."

I laugh and reply, "I don't see why not, but please tell me that this," I state while pointing to his knife, "is just a joke."

"Yes it is," Pit replied coolly.

"Alrighty then. Let's go tell him." Pit starts heading for the cafeteria door while I follow him. But before we reach the door, Pit glances down at a sundial through a rather large window and gasps.

"Oh man!"

"What is it?" I ask nervously.

"I need to go train my army! I almost forgot all about them! Julius is going to have to wait." He starts running down the hall towards the exit but stops suddenly as if deep in thought. Then he turns around with a gleam in his eye.

"Would you like to watch what I do, up close?"

"Heck yes man!" I exclaim with excitement. Quickly, I run for the exit before he leaves without me, only to realize that I have no idea where I'm going. I turn back toward the door and tell him, "You and Julius are right. I run off on my own way too much. I'm gonna get lost one of these days." He laughs and follows me out the door, leading the way to the training grounds.

* * *

***IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!***

**Author's Note****: I bet you're all thinking 'FINALLY!' right? Yeah, so am I. I FINALLY got this chapter done after three months of being busy. Once again, I sincerely apologize. Hopefully it won't take this long to get the next chapter up. But just in case if it does, I suggest that you add my story to your alert list so that you can tell when I've updated this thing. I feel really bad thinking that every time someone clicks on my story, they are disappointed by no update. If you don't have an account, might I suggest getting one so that you CAN do this? You don't have to. It's completely up to you. I'm just saying it would probably make this a whole lot easier for you.**

**On a side note…not a very creative title for this chapter, huh? Yeah I had a hard time coming up with a name for it. A couple days of thinking, and this is what I came up with…dang it.**

**[$(1)$] – s Worth of Music****: And now it's time for a different form of entertainment! Today's song is 'Better Off Alone' by Alice Deejay. This song is kinda old, but it took me that long just to find out what it's called and who it's by. I know sad right? Anyways, enjoy and I'll see ya next time!**

**http:/ www. aimini. net/view/?fid=bCChQN75XBI0Q6VAhYKh**


	18. Chapter 17 Secrets Revealed

**Chapter 17 – Secrets Revealed**

**Author's Note****: Okay I finally got some free time and managed to get this one typed up while it was still in my head. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Akhos' P.O.V.**

"What are _you_ doing back here? I thought I made it clear that you were not allowed to come back until you either captured the girl, or killed her," Ahriman growled, his voice echoing off the cave walls. I bowed down quickly and looked down towards the floor before speaking.

"Yes, sir, you did. And I am aware that I don't have her here at the moment, but please let me explain."

"Why should I? You would only be speaking words full of nonsense and lies!"

"Because I have uncovered important information about this human named _Tiffany_," I reply quickly, the human's name sounding foreign the moment I speak it. Ahriman's features shifted from anger to interest.

Ahriman sat back in his throne before continuing to ask, "What kind of information?" I decided to go straight to the point since Ahriman is not the type to sit around and listen to anybody.

"I'm sure you remember Palutena, correct?"

"That light goddess who I destroyed a few years ago? Of course I remember her!"

"Well it appears that she is back," I replied cautiously while looking down to the floor again.

"What?" Ahriman shouted. "How can this be? I watched her die!" He gripped his chair in fury trying to hold himself together.

"See, here is where it gets confusing. She's back, but she's not _completely _back."

"What is _that _supposed to mean?"

"Her soul is trapped inside of a human child. The child that you kidnapped that same day you killed Palutena. The child that is also known as Tiffany to the angels in Skyworld. She is currently being protected there." Ahriman's face became contorted in fury, but then he looked liked he had an idea and soon he started to smirk. "What do you think sir?" I asked fearfully. His smirk grew into a grin.

"I think it's time we pay a visit to those angels."

"But sir!" I shouted, unaware of what I was getting myself into. "That would be going against your word. It hasn't been five years yet! You will be enraging a goddess." I was so caught up in telling him about his failure of a plan that I didn't realize that he came down from his throne and grabbed my neck and started choking me.

"In case you haven't realize. The goddess is trapped inside of a human at the moment. She wouldn't be able to stop me. Unless of course, you were lying earlier," he stated with piercing eyes. I shook my head no and opened my mouth to try and tell him that there was more to the story. He loosened his grip on my neck but still held his hand there. I gasped for air and then continued to speak to the best of my ability.

"I'm positive she's trapped. I overheard the human talking to someone about it," I replied weakly.

"Good. Now see Akhos? We have nothing to fear. She can't stop me if she isn't physically there to prevent what will soon be Skyworld's end." Once he was done talking to me, he dropped me to the ground. Ahriman walked back up to his throne and grabbed his sword aggressively. Then he began looking around the room, smiling evilly.

"Troops! Be ready! Tonight, we attack Skyworld!" Ahriman shouted while pointing his sword high up into the air. The entire room erupted into a loud chorus of cheering and yelling. The sound of clanking armor and weapons could be heard in a room off to the left of the throne room.

"_I have a bad feeling about this_," I thought to myself. "_He still doesn't know that the human is capable of using the goddess' powers. Oh well, maybe she still has no idea how to use them._" I sighed and picked myself up off the ground, patting away any dirt on my clothes. Then I walked to my quarters so that I could prepare myself for the interesting battle that was soon to come.

* * *

**Author's Note****: Yeah, it's really short. I know. I just wanted to give Akhos and Ahriman a chance to shine. I picked on them enough in the beginning. It's time to show how truly evil (...I guess) they really are. Do you think they were evil enough?**

**On a side note, I REACHED OVER 1,000 HITS! I feel like I've accomplished something today! YAY! :D**

**[$(1)$] – s Worth of Music****: Today's song is Pardon Me by He Is We. They are an acoustic band consisting of a boy and a girl. The girl is the lead singer and she has an amazing voice. Their songs make me wanna learn how to play the guitar! This song doesn't contain any guitars but still, it's really good and one of my favorites. Anyways, enjoy and I'll see ya next time! :)**

**http:/www. aimini. net/view/?fid=s8NEp8wlyhggb68HbP5x **


	19. Chapter 18 Training For The Apocalypse

**Chapter 18 – Training For The Apocalypse (of Angel Land)**

**Author's Note:**** I don't really have a good excuse this time around. I've had an 'idea' of what to put in this chapter ever since I last updated this story…if you haven't been keeping track, it's been a couple months. Possibly three. Anyways, this chapter will be a lot longer than the last one, so you can breathe a sigh of relief now, or jump for joy…..whichever way is your style! :D Enjoy!**

**P.S.: The number 18 is my lucky number! I can't believe my story got this long! Don't worry though…..the end is coming up. Hmm, well then…..BACK TO THE STORY!**

* * *

**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

"At this rate we're never going to make it in time," Pit mumbled to himself poignantly.

"Where exactly is this stadium thing? I thought you said we'd be there by now," I asked him, panting from the marathon we had run to get halfway across town.

"We would've been…" he started to say but then stopped suddenly and looked away. I knew exactly what he was implying but at least he had the decency not to say it. Yeah, I know, I'm pretty slow when it comes to running. In gym class I was never the fastest kid when we ran the mile. However I'm proud to say that I was also never the slowest. I consider myself an in-between-er. I'm not the fastest, but I'm also not the slowest. I'm just average.

"It's just that I'm slowing you down, right?" I asked him quizzically, a faint smile on my face. He looked at me again with a sad expression. I raised my arms quickly in protest, as if I was pushing his thoughts away. "It's alright. I know I'm slow." Pit's expression never faltered. He looked like he truly felt bad. "I have an idea," I said while putting a big smile on my face.

A gleam of hope stirred in his eyes as he asked, "What is it?"

"How about you run ahead and make it on time while I meet you there? You're the one that has to actually be there. All you have to do is show me which of these buildings," I stated while pointing at the cluster of buildings in front of us, "is the stadium." He looked skeptical at first, probably thinking that if he leaves me alone again that I might get into even more trouble, but then he gave me a reassuring smile.

"Alright," he replies with a stern look. "Just don't go wandering off. It's that building way over there." He pointed over to a rather large round building that looked old, and big. If anything it resembled a coliseum in old Grecian times. I felt like I was looking in one of my history books. Of course, just my luck, it also had to be the building farthest away. Now I see what he meant by 'We'll never make it on time'. "Just please promise me you won't go wandering off. Then I _really_ won't be able to find you."

Once I nodded and said "I promise", he smiled and then took off, not running, but flying. A gust of wind from his wings practically blew me over in the process. In that moment I realized he's a heck of a lot faster at flying than he is at running.

"_Maybe that goes for all angels…..hmm. Who knows?_" I thought quietly to myself.

"_I do!_" Palutena chimed in happily, making me jump. For a minute there I'd completely forgotten about the goddess. She hadn't said a word while Pit and I ran halfway across town. "_And it's true. Angels do fly faster than when they run. They are made more for the air, not so much the land_."

"Huh, well that's a nice little fact that won't help me get to that stadium faster. Do you know any shortcuts Palutena?"

"_Hmm….._" she thought loudly to herself. I felt like my head was buzzing because of all the thinking she was doing. It was making me feel dizzy.

"On second, thought never mind. We'll get there when we get there," I proclaimed, trying to stop her before my condition got worse.

"_No just wait I may know of one….just give me a moment. It's been a few years since I was last here. Um….._" I cringed as she continued to brainstorm.

"Palutena no offense, but all of your thinking is giving me a headache," I said as I placed a hand to my forehead.

"_Oh dear, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that. I'm only trying to help," _she said quickly in a sympathetic tone.

"I know you are. And it's okay, you didn't know." I lowered my hand and continued to look at the stadium far off in the distance. I couldn't see Pit flying towards it anymore. "_He must've already gotten to it and what's it been, five minutes? Clearly he could've reached it without me ages ago._" I began to wonder why he would want me to go anyways. "_It's not like it's that important that I witness their training, is it? Unless…it's not me he wants watching….but Palutena instead._"

"_That could be. He may want to show me how my warriors have been holding up after all this time._"

"Do you think they learned anything new while you were gone?"

"_I do not know. It wouldn't hurt to check though!_" she said cheerfully. Her happiness at the thought of seeing her army again made me smile. That's the thing about Palutena. Even though she's bodiless at the moment and her world has slowly been crumbling due to her loss, she's still a peppy person…er…goddess. Her happiness could easily make those around her be filled with joy. I guess that is just one of the many perks to being a goddess of 'light'. She looks towards the 'bright side' of things. I chuckled at my inside joke and pretended to hear the classic drum sound when a comedian made a 'funny' joke.

"I suppose we better get going then," I say as I start running toward the stadium, dodging angels and other road blocks on the way there.

* * *

**Pit's P.O.V.**

"Alright troops form a circle around me and listen up!" As soon as I said it, the centurions followed my command. Slowly I took in my fellow warriors and started to come up with things for each of them to work on. I told half of them to go practice on the dummies for close combat while the rest drilled themselves in archery. "After 30 minutes I want you all to switch places." With everything all set up I started to look for someone to help me with a task. "Angela! May I speak with you for a minute?" Out of all the troops I decided that one of my new recruits, the small angel girl named Angela, would be perfect for the job. Not just because I recognized her first, but because she is already skilled at both archery and close combat fighting…even if she is new. So it would be okay if she missed a couple minutes of practice to help me.

"You needed something sir?" she asked in a formal tone, both hands held at her sides in fists. Her eyes looked empty and her mouth formed a perfect straight line. "_She must think she's in trouble_," I pondered to myself.

"Yes, I was wondering if you could go get Julius for me. I need his opinion on something."

"Yes sir!" she shouted and saluted to me. Then she began sprinting toward the exit. As she reached it, she suddenly stopped and came running back to me. "Found him," she said as she jabbed one thumb over her shoulder toward the exit. Sure enough, a couple of seconds later Julius was emerging from the arched doorway.

"Thanks," I told Angela absently. I realized I wasn't giving her my attention so I quickly looked at her and plastered a smile on my face. "You may go work on whatever skill you would like." She gave me one more salute and then ran off toward the combat dummies. The moment she left, Julius was by my side grinning.

"Hello Pit!" he yelled happily. "I was wondering if you were going to make it here on time. What with you staying overnight in the infirmary and all." He waggled his eyebrows while giving me a cocky grin and watched as one of my men made a perfect bulls-eye at the archery station. "Ooh, nice shot," he mumbled to himself.

"Hello Julius," I say, smiling. "Yes, as you can see I did make it on time. So you didn't need to 'worry' about me." Julius laughed in response and then switched his gaze over to the combat station. I adjusted my voice into a serious tone as I said, "Actually I'm glad that you came. I needed your opinion on Palutena's circumstance."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you know how part of her spirit is in Tiffany's body?"

"Pit, I already know that. Please do not talk to me like I am a toddler. I am Julius, the angel of education, the teacher of all cherubs, the seeker of truth in myths, the-"

"Julius, you're making yourself sound like a god," I stated jokingly.

"Oh please, Pit. Education leads to success, and if that means becoming a god in the process well then I am not one to complain." He grinned mischievously.

"Of course you're not. Anyways, I'm starting to worry."

"About Tiffany or Palutena?"

"Both, I guess. When I was sitting with her in the infirmary her eyes started to turn green. And I don't mean just a plain green. I felt like I was talking directly to Palutena whenever I looked into them."

"Perhaps it's just her eye color doing that."

"Maybe but then when she was unconscious in the hospital I noticed her hair turn a slight green color. Now I'm no expert or anything on humans and what their bodies can do but if memory serves right, Palutena's body had green hair and green eyes."

"So you think her body changing colors is linked to Palutena's soul residing within her?" Julius asked incredulously with a hint of a smirk on his face.

"Yes….speaking of Tiffany. Did you see her on your way here by any chance?" Julius' smile faded as he looked over at me confused.

"You mean she's not still in the infirmary?" he asks worriedly.

"She's healthy enough to be walking around on her own now. I even invited her to come to the stadium and watch our training routine today, but I've been here for 15 minutes already and she still hasn't shown up." I close my eyes and lower my head in distress. "I'm getting worried, Julius."

"Well, to answer your earlier question, no I did not see her on my way here. But then again, when you are me and you are flying 50 miles an hour over 60 feet above the city, you tend to just ignore the things that are below you." He chuckles nervously to himself, probably just as worried as I am about Tiffany's whereabouts. "Don't worry Pit. I'm sure she is just fine."

"Oh you're sure? Well then perhaps you wouldn't mind going out to look for her. She should be on her way here…..or somewhere else in the city." There was a pause before I groaned and muttered to myself, "I told her not to run off."

Noticing my concern, Julius placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "Do you want me to go look for her? I can ask around, see if anyone has seen her. After all, a human in Skyworld is pretty hard to come by." I was about to say "Sure, go ahead," until a movement over by the entrance caught my eye. The blurred form moved hastily, had golden brown hair and pale skin…and was running straight for me. I got down in a battle stance, ready to fight off whatever this thing was. Until at the last moment I realized it was the girl I was worried about for almost half an hour.

* * *

**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

Trying to dodge all of the pedestrians, I ran as fast as my legs could go. It felt like I'd been running forever.

"_Actually you've been running for almost 25 minutes. Poor dear, you sound exhausted_," Palutena said, interrupting my thoughts once again. It was true though. All of my running was wearing me out, making me gasp desperately for air.

"I've never run *_pant_* this long before. *_pant_* My body's *pant* not used to it *_pant_*."

"_Don't worry. The stadium is very nearby. I remember this area as if I were only here yesterday_," Palutena replied fortunately. Of course, she was right. Once I rounded the next corner I could see the tall stone stadium. It was so big; it made me wonder if they only use it for training or if it served other purposes. That'd be a question to ask Pit later.

The entryway to the stadium was a tall, stone arch. Normally I would sit around and gawk at this age old building but I had no time to waste. I continued running through the building, trying to take in as much as I could before I reached the area I was heading for…..which I had no idea where that was.

"_Take a left!_" Palutena shouted, making me almost lose my footing. I listened to her command and turned left down another corridor. "_Now a right!_" Once again I followed her directions and soon saw a bright light at the end of the hall. The light was causing my eyes to go blind for a few seconds but when I opened them back up I saw a ton of angels shooting arrows and using swords and dagger-like weapons on dummies. I continued to run straight, my hair flying wildly around my face. A quick glimpse through my strands of hair revealed Pit and Julius looking at me shocked, or was that fear in their eyes?

Once I reached them I stopped running (rather clumsily), and steadied myself with my hands on my knees, gasping like I couldn't get enough air in my lungs. "I *gasp* hate *gasp* running." When I looked up I saw Pit standing in a fighting stance, like he was about to kick the crap outta me. My eyes widened in shock. "Dude, what the hell! *gasp* You gonna beat me up or somethin'?" The fear in his eyes vanished quickly and was replaced by astonishment.

"Tiffany," he said relieved, a smile spreading on his face. Next thing I knew, he was holding me tightly in a bear hug. It was as if though he was afraid that if he let go I would disappear. "Thank the Goddess you're safe."

"Well, yeah, what'd you think was gonna happen? I'd get attacked and kidnapped by those demons again? I was running through town, not an alley." I took a step back so that I could look him in the eye, but he still gripped my arms tightly, not showing any signs of letting go. "They wouldn't attempt anything if I'm surrounded by angels." I gave him a reassuring smile.

"Clever girl!" Julius shouted, sounding impressed. "You know, Pit, she makes a very valid point. The demons know that they are outnumbered in Skyworld. There's no probability of them trying to do what Ahkos did last night. I doubt even _they_ are _that_ idiotic."

"Even so," Pit replied to Julius, and then turned his attention back to me, "I was scared that you might've run off. I'm not leaving you alone anymore." Now normally, any girl would kill for a cute teen angel guy to tell them that and then get all wobbly kneed and sweaty palmed at the prospect of it…I'm no exception. I felt my face flush a deep crimson almost immediately. Julius, noticing my red cheeks, decided to make the moment a little less awkward.

"So, um, Tiffany. Nice dress," he said with a smile while looking at the cloth I was wearing. "I think it suits you, don't you think so too Pit?" Pit reluctantly let go of me to look down at my Grecian dress. (Okay so the moment still felt kind of awkward for me since it felt like they were both checking me out, but hey, if it gets Pit's mind off of never leaving me alone, then I'm all for it.) I forgot that I was still wearing the dress from the hospital. It felt so comfortable I hardly even noticed the differences between it and my dresses from home.

I gave Julius a smile and said, "Thanks, the people from the hospital gave it to me…uh…..at least I think they gave it to me." That got Julius to chuckle, lightening the mood. Then the mood was killed by a loud ringing sound. It sounded like a siren that would go up an octave and then back down, repeatedly. It started to get on my nerves. When I looked over at Pit, I noticed that his face was frozen in shock. It was the same face he wore when he saw me running towards him earlier. That look was starting to scare me. "Pit? Is something wrong?" Instead of answering me, he turned towards his soldiers - who had also stopped what they were doing to look up at the sky - and started barking orders for them to be prepared for battle. Pit briefly glanced down at me and then looked over at Julius.

With a stern expression in his eye, Pit said, "Julius, I need you to take Tiffany away from here."

Julius gave Pit a look of concern and asked, "You mean back to the palace?"

"No, not even there. She needs to get out of Skyworld." Pit's face became expressionless and that let me know that something was in fact wrong. Julius then grabbed hold of my wrist, and started quickly walking me away from Pit and towards the exit of the stadium. I only got one chance to look back and see Pit's vacant face before going into the dark hallway.

"Wait, what's going on?" I shouted, my voice bouncing off the walls.

"No time to explain." I twisted my wrist free from his grasp and stopped myself from going any farther. I wanted answers and I wasn't going to stand by and let things happen around me without knowing what was going on first. Julius turned around abruptly to give me a pleading look. "Tiffany please, we don't have time for this."

Once again I asked him, "What's going on?" Julius tried to grab my wrist again but I was too fast for him. I tucked my hands behind my back to keep him from trying that stunt anymore. "I'm not going anywhere until you answer me." He takes a big breath before replying to my earlier question.

"Those sirens you just heard mean that there is an attack on Skyworld. My best guess would be that it's our demon friends coming back for you." I think for a couple of seconds, processing the information.

"But I thought they wouldn't be stupid enough to do that!"

"Yes, they wouldn't be stupid enough to do that…..on their own. However, this time it must be an army of them if they've caused the alarms to go off."

"Oh shit," I mumbled. "This isn't good."

"No it's not. Now come on!" he yelled while successfully grabbing my wrist once again and pulling me the rest of the way out of the stadium.

If I had to describe the scene outside in one word, I would say that the town was 'vacant'. The streets were empty, windows and doors that were once open were now closed, and everything had a dark foreboding feel to it. This was one of those constant moments in Skyworld where I felt scared for my life. "Julius, I have a feeling something really bad is going to happen," I said while clutching his toga tightly and half-hiding behind his shoulder.

Julius continued to look around, analyzing the area. Probably to see what the safest escape route was. "You know something else I just realized? We can't leave."

"What do you mean?" Now I was starting to get really scared.

A strong wind blew in from behind us, and when I felt a hand grab my shoulder I jumped. Turning around I realized that it was Pit and his army landing directly behind us, looking tough, dangerous, and ready to fight. Pit was the one who put a hand on my shoulder.

"I thought I told you two to get out of here," he said angrily. Julius instantly swiveled on his feet so that he was facing Pit.

"We were heading out until we realized that we can't go anywhere unless we leave through the front gates. For the moment, we are trapped." For not being a fighter, Julius sounded extremely calm for this kind of situation. While he was composed, I was freaking out on the of Form

Pit let out a big breath before replying. "Alright fine, that sounds like a good enough reason for me not to kick you both out of Skyworld myself, but still you have to get to a safer area than here. Otherwise you'll both be in the middle of a war." I looked behind him and saw dark figures flying in from the sky.

"I think it's a little too late for that," I said while pointing over Pit's shoulder at the demons flying in for an attack. Pit quickly looked back just in time to see an arrow come flying towards him. He knocked it out of the way with ease, shot off his own light arrow and successfully hit his target. Then he instantly came to my right side while Julius covered the left, holding the exact knife that he once threw at me.

Everything around me turned into chaos within a matter of seconds. Like Pit said, the entire area turned into a war zone. All around me angels and demons were head to head in combat. Demons were charging through the city breaking windows and carrying many kinds of weapons all while fighting off the hordes of angels that were trying to stop them. Some demons held what looked like pitchforks while others carried daggers, swords, and bows and arrows. The thing that struck me dumbfounded was the fact that some of the demons actually had human-like features. The rest however, looked like black cloaked beings with sharp fangs, claws for nails, and double sets of eyes. In all, the sight of them creeped me out and made me want to run away, but with Pit and Julius surrounding me that made it pretty much impossible to scream like a little girl and run for the hills. So instead I sucked it up and acted like none of this was scaring me…or at least I tried to.

"Pit!" Julius shouted over the screeching and slashing. "We can't keep holding them off like this! There are too many of them! We need to try something else!" Julius was right. Everywhere I turned there were monsters heading for us. If we didn't get out of there now, then we never would.

"But we can't stop now, Julius! We need to keep Tiffany safe!" Pit yelled back. Julius let out a sigh of frustration.

"I know just listen to me! I have an idea!"

"Alright then, what is it?" As he yelled back at Julius angrily, Pit slashed at a couple more demons, killing them on the spot.

"Do you have any more of those transportation arrows I gave you a few days ago?" Pit seemed to think about this for a second before responding.

"Actually, I do. Julius you're a genius!" Pit was grinning with excitement.

"Well my name doesn't rhyme with genius for nothing." Their friendly small talk made the devastation around us seem like it was no big deal. It was starting to irritate me.

"Guys, can we just go use those arrows then?" I yelled in protest, causing them to snap their attention towards me. "I kinda don't want to be here anymore at the moment!"

"Right then," Julius said in reply. He quickly turned his attention back to Pit. "Pit, where are they?"

"I only have one left. I put it in my favorite hiding spot….." Julius and I waited for him to continue but it didn't seem like he was going to say anymore.

"Well?" I asked patiently.

"Well what?" Pit questioned me, looking confused. Just when I remembered that we were in the middle of a war zone, an arrow zoomed over my head almost taking a few stray hairs with it, making me lose my temper.

"Well where is it?"

"I'm not going to say! It's my secret hiding spot where I keep loads of my prized possessions."

"Pit, no offense or anything, but this is no time to worry about your super-secret hiding spot!"

"Tiffany is right Pit. We need to get those arrows _now_," Julius added. Pit bit his lower lip in frustration.

He blocked off another demon attack and said defeated, "Fine, but I'm going with you guys then." Julius looked shocked by his answer.

"Are you sure? What about the army?" he asked, expanding his arms to show the battle taking place behind him.

"They'll be fine. I've trained them for years. I know that they're extremely capable of taking care of these guys without me." Pit then moved behind me while scooting Julius up in front, making us form a straight line. "Julius you lead the way back to the palace. I'll be in back preventing anyone from getting close. Tiffany….." He gave me a look of concern and said, "Just stay in between us and don't lose sight of Julius."

"Got it. No problem. Can we go now?" I asked anxiously, looking back at the destruction of the nearest buildings. One structure was being eaten by flames. I hoped to God that there was no one in there as it began to crumble.

"Yes. Julius, go." Once Julius started moving ahead, I quickly followed making sure not to leave too big of a gap between us. I glanced over my shoulder to see if Pit was right behind us. He was, but his back was turned from me so that he could focus on the barrage of demons trying to take us down. They were slowing him down creating an even larger gap between me and him.

"Julius!" When he turned around I continued. "Should we slow down so Pit can catch up?"

"No!" He turned around and swiped at another demon on his left. "We need to keep moving!" I did as he said and kept going, but every so often I would look back to see the gap between me and Pit get larger and larger. I began to wonder, "_If he doesn't catch up soon then my back would be open for-_"

"Tiffany, look out!" I heard Julius shout. His warning came too late. I was snapped out of my thoughts by a strong grasp that grabbed my hands and twisted them behind my back to prevent struggle. Pressure was exerted on my shoulders as I was yanked back and slammed against something solid. A silent gasp escaped my lips as the air was knocked out of my lungs. I glimpsed over my shoulder to see the face of a beat-up demon that I instantly recognized.

"Ahkos….." I mumbled to myself in distaste. Narrowing my eyes I watched as his face broke into a grin.

"Long time, no see kid." I could hear a faint "_Oh dear_" in my head as my surroundings became quiet and all fighting ceased.

* * *

**Author's Note****:**

**Hooray I'm back...sort of! Now that college has started for me, I figured that I would have loads of time to work on my story, but it turns out I have even less time than I thought. I've been working on this little by little as much as I could before I'd get dragged off to go on a hike with some friends, or go to the mall to hang out…..or before I'd have to go to class.**

**I don't know how many times I'm going to end up saying this but once again, I'm sorry for the extremely long delay. It took me a while to find out what I should put in this chapter…..so I decided to just get to the point. With this story coming close to its end, I figure there will roughly be about…3-5 chapters left? Maybe more? I don't know. I guess you'll have to keep reading to find out. ;)**

**Other than my long unscheduled hiatus, let's talk about my story because that's the real purpose of an author's note right? Of course it is! Did you like the ending, or did it seem rushed? Did you catch the background problem going on in the story? If you did, then good for you because you were paying attention! For those of you who didn't catch it, you will notice it in later chapters.**

**[$(1)$] – s Worth of Music****: This time I've decided to show you guys my idol, Cady Groves. Ahhh! She started off as an acoustic guitar player, but now this year she has started to sing pop songs now that she's signed off on a record label (since that's what she's dreamed of doing). I personally love all of her songs because they are all unique in their own way. Oh and she's really pretty too. If you don't believe me then Google it. So at the moment I've decided to show you all the song that I've recently been listening to (it's one of her more recent pop songs). Give it up for Cady Groves singing "**_**This Little Girl (Murder)**_**"! See you guys next time! :)**

**http:/www. aimini. net/view/?fid=qJdM5cO5jn6AIkvBo2CV**


	20. Chapter 19 Palutena's Abilities

**Chapter ****19**** – Palutena's Abilities**

**Author's Note****: Thank you guys for so much for the positive feedback! I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Literally, I'm so giddy with happiness right now. XD I've been smiling like an idiot since the last time I updated this story. Hahaha! :D So thank you once again! It's really appreciated!**

**I'd just like to point out that I've made a poll on my profile asking you, the people, if you would like me to make a sequel to this story since that idea is (for now) on stand-by.**

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**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

Everything was quiet. And by quiet I mean that not even crickets were chirping, which I guess would be pretty odd considering that wasn't exactly standing on soil. As I slowly rotated my head around to look at everyone, I noticed that the angels were all staring at me in fear. "_Fear? Fear of what?_" I thought to myself. "_I'm not that terrifying_."

"_I don't think they are afraid of you. Rather I think that perhaps they are afraid because you have been captured_," Palutena said quietly.

"_That's true. That's probably why they're looking at me like all hope is lost_." Now I felt bad. I should've been more careful. Pit told me to follow Julius, but I ended up disobeying that order for just a few seconds and now I've gotten myself into a bad situation. Odds are I was going to have a really hard time getting out of this one. Akhos' grip on my wrists never wavered. In fact his hands only gripped mine tighter together. I could practically feel the bruise forming there.

"Don't even think about stepping forward anymore there angel boy," Akhos grumbled. Looking up I could see Pit was trying to sneak towards us. His bow was split into two separate daggers and he looked about ready to pounce. Frustration clouded his face as his muscles tightened and he sank back into the crowd. He appeared to be different than any of the other angels in this situation though. In all, Pit looked pissed while the others seemed fearful.

"Well done Akhos. Well done," said a low pleased voice from behind Akhos. Akhos shifted his weight a little, while he kept his eyes on the angels, to allow me to see who was talking. I looked away from Pit only to come across an evil gaze being given directly to me by the man who was speaking. "It appears history is practically repeating itself, isn't that right Palutena?" I shifted uncomfortably as I realized that when Akhos had gotten away that one night, he brought valuable information with him. The man had red eyes that seemed to tell their own terrifying story. Out of all the demons he appeared to be the most human; however he still had features that were mortal. His hands and nails were normal, he didn't look a day over 25, he had shiny black hair that framed his face and covered his ears a little, and skin that looked very pale. His smile showed white sharp teeth. Those were probably the only inhuman thing about him. "_This man_," I thought, "_must be Akhos' leader_."

"_Tiffany. Meet Ahriman. You both have met before, but you were far too young to remember. He's the one who destroyed my body._" Reality sank in as Palutena's words made me feel breathless. I felt like I couldn't breathe.

"I know you're in there Palutena." Ahriman's eyes narrowed into slits as he watched me intently.

"_Is he going to do the same thing to me?_" I asked her worriedly.

"Why don't you come out and speak to your angels."

"_I'm not going to say yes…..however I am also not going to say no. Knowing him, he may have other plans._" Her voice sounded shaky and full of fear. It made me even more nervous. If a goddess was fearful of this man, then I should be petrified to the point of having a heart attack.

"I'm sure they're just dying to hear your voice again." It sounded almost like he had some hidden meaning in that sentence.

"_Do you have any idea what they would be?_" I asked erratically.

"_Well, since you got away with keeping me safe all of these years he may want to get rid of you…in a more torturous way._" She whispered the last part of her sentence, showing that she was worried about how this would all turn out. "_He probably feels that you owe him that much_." Suddenly I began to feel angry at this…_thing_. From what Palutena had told me about, he was the one who ordered Akhos to kidnap me from my world all those years ago. He was the one who ordered to have me brought back. He was the one who was threatening my life even though I was innocently drawn into this mess that I didn't even want to be a part of. I found myself narrowing my eyes at him, mimicking his energy of hate. He appeared to not be fazed by my actions.

"Alright then," he said as he brought his face inches away from mine. "If you won't come out willingly, then we'll just have to force you out ourselves." With that said he unsheathed his sword and pointed it directly at my neck. My feelings began to waver between loathing and anxiousness. I loathed the fact that I was letting this man decide whether I should live or die, and I was anxious of the sword that was ready to drain me of blood. "Come out, or I slit her throat. I'm giving you 10 seconds." My eyes widened in terror as he began the countdown. "10…" "_I can't believe I only have 10 seconds to live_." "…9…" "_There were so many things I never got to experience._""…8…" "_I never got to go to college._" "…7…" "_I'll never get to grow older than 16."_ "…6…" "_Why does my head feel dizzy?" _ "…5…" "_What is this, hypnotism?_" "…4…" "_I feel like I'm falling asleep_." "…3…" "_Is this when my life flashes before my eyes?_" "…2…" "_Why can't I feel my body?_" "…1…" A piercing headache took over any more thoughts, causing me to cringe and let out a cry of pain as I felt like I was being ripped apart. It looked like I scared Ahriman a bit because he jumped a little in surprise. Choruses of gasps were voiced all around me. Most likely from the angels because I can't exactly picture demonic creatures gasping.

"Don't worry Tiffany. I won't let him hurt you." I heard a whispered voice that sounded similar to my own, but very distant. "_Did I say that?_" I gave my surroundings a once-over and noticed something odd. It wasn't the fact that I could move my hands again. And it also wasn't the fact that I felt like I was floating on air. No, the weirdest thing that I noticed was that I could see myself, still being held captive by Akhos with a sword to my throat. My once brown hair was now a vibrant green, and my eyes, which were currently settled on me, were green. My body was looking over at me as if though it could sense my presence. "_How can this be?_" I looked down at myself and saw my silhouette of a body. "_I'm a ghost? I don't believe it…I actually died?_" I got no response. I started to feel isolated and alone. Was no one ever going to see me again? I didn't want to focus on those kinds of thoughts…no. I couldn't focus on those kinds of thoughts. For some reason I felt a pull drawing me closer to my body, but a voice inside my head was telling me to stay away. Was it my conscience?

"Well, well. It looks like Palutena has finally decided to grace us with her presence. Long time no see, Goddess of Light." Ahriman spoke his words with disgust.

"_That's Palutena?_" I asked myself. Now that I finally thought about it, it made perfect sense. The way how my hair always seemed to change colors after I'd had a dream with Palutena in it, or how my eyes sometimes became really green on days where weird things have happened. I always thought it was just my hazel eyes acting up. And what about that time when my mom almost killed us because of a freaking pheasant? That bright light that saved my family and me must have been her interference. So all those times, those have all been hints telling me that Palutena's been there all along. "_Did she know that she could do this? Wait a minute….does this mean I'm not dead?_"

"_Yes, Tiffany. You are not dead_," said Palutena's voice in my head, confirming my suspicions. "_You are, how you humans would say, 'taking a break' while I take over from here_."

"_So, that's you looking at me right now?_" I received a silent nod from my body showing that Palutena had definitely taken control of it. I looked over at Pit and Julius to see what their thoughts were on this. Pit's mouth was hanging open while Julius' eyes were as round as two dinner plates. "_Huh, well I'm just gonna guess that they're both surprised_."

"Well? Say something!" Ahriman growled.

"What is there to say Ahriman? You are an incompetent fool who thinks that messing with the gods won't cost him his life."

"You should watch what you say Palutena, because as far as I can tell," the point of his sword moved closer to my body's neck, almost pricking it, "you are the fool whose already lost half of her life and now has to cower behind the face of a weak human girl." He cocked his head to the side as if thinking about something. "I wonder what she would think if I did this." He slightly poked his sword at my neck causing blood to drip out. She flinched, and so did I. It almost felt like I could feel it too. Anger started to bubble up inside me. He was harming my body, and I had to stand there and watch him do it.

"Stop!" Pit yelled. Everyone's heads turned to look at him as his anger boiled over. Silence fell over the crowd once more as Pit breathed in and out trying to calm himself down. It was obvious he didn't want to lose his goddess again and was more than willing to get in the middle of this fight for her. Even with the condition she was in. "Leave her alone," he said slowly, enunciating each word through clenched teeth.

"Why would I ever do that?" Ahriman said with a gleam in his eye. "I now have the goddess in my hands and you think your words will stop me?"

"Well…..they have so far," Pit replied with a smirk. Ahriman became enraged at Pit's smart-ass comment. He stomped away from my body and headed straight for Pit, taking his sword with him. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that my body wasn't going to be cut into pieces….yet. Once Ahriman was closer to Pit he stopped a few feet away and raised his sword, ready to fight. Pit obliged the motion by squatting into a fighting stance and raised his own daggers. They both stared at each other for a few seconds, glaring at one another. Pit smirked again causing Ahriman's anger to boil over. Deciding to make the first move, Ahriman charged with his sword out and ready to swing. The clouds overhead began to grow darker by the second and suddenly everyone froze wondering what was happening. The crackling of lightning echoed over the vast open space in the sky.

I looked over at my body in curiosity, wondering if Palutena was doing this, and watched as my newly green eyes glowed brightly. My face changed into this look of anger as a bolt of yellow light came crashing down onto Akhos. Palutena controlled my body with ease as she fluidly retracted from Akhos' grasp until she was a safe distance away. Upon seeing Palutena free, Ahriman became outraged.

"Akhos you blundering idiot! Get her!" Akhos didn't listen. He couldn't. The shock from the lightning put him out cold. While Ahriman was barking his orders, Pit took the opportunity to strike him down. He hit Ahriman in the back of the head with the hilt of his left dagger, causing the demon leader to let out a cry of pain. Pit watched as Ahriman sank lower to the ground, looking vulnerable. When Ahriman crouched down to his knees, Pit put his daggers together to create his bow, and nocked an arrow straight for Ahriman's heart. With the proximity he was at he wouldn't miss.

With a gleam of victory in his eyes Pit said, "Now you tell me. Whose life is at risk here?" Ahriman continued to look at him with a glimmer of hateful emotions passing over his features.

"I refuse to be brought down so easily by a mere adolescent angel." Without another second to waste, Ahriman stood back up inhumanly fast and began getting engulfed by flames.

"_What the hell?_" I asked myself. "_Is he killing himself?_" Pit shot his arrow without warning towards the wall of flames, but somehow missed his target. Ahriman had disappeared from sight. "_No way can someone burn away that fast without ashes or bones being left behind…..so where'd he go?_"

Appearing out of nowhere, Ahriman teleported behind Pit and kicked him down with extreme strength on the back of his right knee. Now Pit was on the ground while Ahriman stood above him, his sword at Pit's throat. "To answer your question, I believe it's your life that is at risk. Not mine."

While these two battled, the surrounding angels and demons continued on with their fights. Everything was chaotic once again and I started to panic. I ran over to my body in hopes of asking Palutena what I should do, but I was stopped by an invisible energy. Actually, to be honest, it felt like I ran straight into a wall. I fell on my butt and looked up at Palutena who wore an apologetic expression on her face.

"_Stay where you are. If you come any closer I may not be able to stop your soul from returning to its rightful place in your body,_" Palutena instructed me from a distance.

"_But-_"

"_No buts. I need to finish this quickly before we lose anyone today_." She looked over at Pit's battle with a nervous gaze. I understood immediately and backed off as she started to walk the short distance over to his fight. Even though her back (okay, my back) was turned to me, I could tell that her eyes were glowing. My body's hands started to sparkle and I was instantly reminded of learning how to produce balls of light.

"_She's planning on fighting?_" Palutena turned around and gave me a simple nod before continuing on her little trek across the destruction that surrounded us. Without further delay, she whipped my right arm around and threw the first light orb. It slammed into Ahriman's back, knocking the wind out of him. He fell to the ground gasping, trying to get air back into his lungs. Taking the opportunity, Pit quickly shot up and ran over to Palutena.

"Palutena is that really you?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes, it is me." Hearing my voice again, I realized why it didn't sound quite like me. It was because my voice had a certain airy, echoing effect to it. It almost sounded godly. The sound was pretty cool…..yet creepy only because it was my voice that I was hearing. Pit instantly hugged her, tears toppling over the sides of his lids.

"All these years I thought you were gone," he said in a hushed tone. Palutena wrapped her arms around him, comforting him from the pain of almost losing her. Realizing for the first time since I'd gotten here, a thought occurred to me that Pit might actually not have a mom. From the way it sounds, he's been living in the palace for pretty much his whole life. She was probably the closest thing to a mother he ever had. It made me teary-eyed just thinking about it.

Seeing Pit cry was hard for me. I live in a household where men don't cry. Hell, my family had taught me that even _I_ shouldn't cry. My mom had told me to hold back my tears because crying showed that you were an insecure person. But if I could comprehend anything from what I could see, it was that crying didn't make you look insecure. It allowed you to let your feelings out that you've been bottling up. According to Palutena, she'd been gone for three years. I could only imagine what it would feel like to believe that my mom was dead for three years only to find out a few years later that she never actually died. It was a situation that I'd never heard of before….probably because that kind of thing just doesn't happen in my world.

"Blast it all!" Ahriman shouted furiously. He stood up and turned around, hands blazing with fire. He looked ready to kill. Palutena quickly let go of Pit, and conjured up a light orb. Pit stepped away from the soon-to-be fight and headed over in my general direction.

"_Oh my God. He can see me?_" I thought to myself. My question answered itself when he walked right through me. "_I guess not_." I turned to look at him and noticed him shivering. It wasn't that cold in Skyworld.

"What was that?" he asked himself. He looked back over at me, and for a minute there it felt like he was looking straight at me. He reached his hand towards me and when it went through my chest he shivered again. "Who's there?" When nobody answered him, he switched his bow into two dual blades again. "Show yourself," he muttered so only the person he was talking to could hear it.

"Is he talking to me?" He was looking at me, so I could only assume that that's what he was going for. "_What does he mean show myself? How on Earth do I do that?_"

Palutena's soft voice answered me telepathically as she said, "_Picture yourself becoming solid again_." I looked over at her and saw that she was now fighting head-to-head with Ahriman. She briefly glanced over at me, smiled, and then continued her fight.

"_Alright then._" I closed my eyes so that I could concentrate."_Solid….solid….solid…_" I slowly pictured myself becoming less of a ghost little by little. Working from my feet up, I imagined me and my non-see-throughable body.

"Whoa!" Pit yelled while jumping back. I snapped my eyes open to see Pit's surprised expression looking right at me. Now he could totally see me. "Tiffany?"

I gave him a smile as I asked, "Yes?" in a joking tone. His mouth dropped open in disbelief.

"How are you here? Shouldn't you be in your body, you know, over there? With Palutena?" I pursed my lips together.

"No. She said I should stay away while she fights."

"Maybe that's because she has better control over your body when you're not in it, trying to fight against her control." He sounded like he was mad. Like as if though it was my fault that I ditched Palutena.

"Fighting? It felt like I was being hypnotized." His anger didn't falter. "Well if it makes you feel any better. In a way, she kicked me out of my own body." That made his mood lighten a little bit. He gave me a tiny smile before turning to observe how Palutena's fight was going.

Palutena was doing pretty good. She didn't look like she'd been hit yet, and Ahriman looked like he'd been burned. "That's it!" he shouted while disappearing in a wall of flame. Palutena looked around her to see where he'd pop up next. She held a light orb in her right hand, ready for his attack. For a moment it almost seemed like he'd retreated. That is until he popped up on her right through flames, landing a blow with his sword to the back of her right leg. Suddenly I felt a sharp searing pain in the back of my own ghostly right leg.

"Ahhh!" Palutena cried out in pain. It sounded like someone else screamed with her as she fell to the ground. A few seconds passed and only then did I realize that the other person that screamed with her was me.

"Tiffany?" Pit shouted sounding worried. A sharp pain gripped my leg and made me cry out again, causing me to fall over onto my side while holding my leg tightly against my body. Cradling it like it was a baby. "Tiffany! Are you okay?" I looked up into Pit's eyes and then considered the events that just happened.

"Pit, as stupid as this sounds," I said through gritted teeth. "I think whenever Palutena takes damage, I'll feel it too." He looked over at Palutena and realized that I was most likely right. Suddenly his face gave this look of horror causing me to bring my attention to Palutena's fight once more. Ahriman was standing over her, his sword raised above his head.

As he lowered it closer to its target with blinding speed, Pit shouted, "No!" My mind reeled as a shot of pain stabbed at my gut, causing little black dots to swim through my line of vision.

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**Author's Note****: Holy cow it's a record! I just got a chapter updated in less than three months…...Oh. My. Jesus. I guess I was just in the writing mood all week. I suppose I'm excited to see how all this ends as much as you guys are. :) Hahaha I'm kidding. You all probably want to kill me because it's ending so soon, even though I've only been writing this since November. I just realized that if I keep going at this rate, then I'll have written this whole story in less than a year!**

**I know, I know. The ending just kinda stops. There's a reason for that…..okay more than one reason. One is so that I keep on writing since I'm excited to finally have an idea of how this all comes together. The other is so that you decide to keep reading. ;)**

**[$(1)$] – s Worth of Music****: Okeydokey! The next song is "Pumped Up Kicks" by **_**Foster the People**_**. Some of you may have already heard of this song….but I don't care. Mwahaha here have a link!**

**http:/www .aimini. net/view/?fid=o032HaixWeTHpD7160Mm **

**Enjoy and see ya next time! :)**


	21. Chapter 20 An Angel's Abilities

**Chapter 20 – An Angel's Abilities**

**Author's Note**:** Alright so here's the next chapter. Turns out this story may not be ending quite so soon. It's taking a lot longer to get to the point that I'm trying to reach…..so yay for you guys! Also, my reason for this chapter coming out so late was because I had….dun dun dun….writers block! I couldn't for the life of me figure out how I should keep going, so I'm sorry if it sounds really bad and cliché/over the top. But all of your reviews and such kept me brainstorming over ways to continue.**

**Anyways, thank you to everyone who is reviewing and adding this to their favorites and alert lists. I'm still smiling like an idiot. :D And it's all thanks to you guys! XD Nice job everyone! Pat yourselves on the back!**

**P.S. – Sorry about the chapter title. I'm so bad I'm copying myself now (note earlier chapter title). Hahaha…does that even make sense? lol**

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**Pit's P.O.V.**

"Palutena!" I shouted, fear creeping around in my stomach. Off in the distance, Tiffany's body writhed around on the ground while directly at my feet her soul was doing the same thing. I knelt down and tried to touch her but the life in her eyes looked like it was going out, like there was no hope left for her. "_No! I can't let this happen!"_

"_Pit,"_ a very familiar voice whispered in my head. I looked around myself and noticed that no one was around.

"_Palutena?"_

"_Pit. You need to give Tiffany some of your power." _She sounded weak but I took her advice into consideration hoping that it would help save her_. _

"_Of course!" _I thought to myself once I had my epiphany moment. I couldn't believe I didn't think of it sooner. Giving someone your angel power gives them the ability to heal more quickly, whether they're an angel or not. A long time ago, back when Palutena was still around, we all promised to never use this ability unless the situation was an emergency because giving someone angel power could have possible side-effects. Ever since, no one's ever had to use it….that is until now.

"Pit!" I heard someone yell. When I turned around I saw Julius running towards me. "Pit! What's going on? Why are Tiffany's eyes and hair green? And is that really Palutena in there? How come you never told me?" He briefly glanced down towards Tiffany, who was still lying on the ground holding her chest in pain. "And why is Tiffany right here instead of over there?" he asked while pointing over at Palutena.

"Julius, I can explain everything, but for now it's going to have to wait. We need to help Tiffany." He looked down at her in concern and then pondered over what I'd said.

"How're we going to do that?" I gave him a moment to think about it. When he turned his gaze back to me I noticed his eyes were, once again, big in surprise. "Pit, we can't do that. Who knows what it would do to her."

"Julius I don't think we really have a choice right now. Besides Palutena gave me permission, so it's okay." A blank expression crossed Julius' face and somehow I knew Palutena was talking to him and telling him the same thing she told me. He gave me a defeated look and then slowly took baby steps towards Tiffany.

"Alright. If it's the only way, then I'll do it." I stopped him with an outstretched hand before he could step any closer to Tiffany's soul.

"Julius I can handle it," I stated with a hint of frustration. "I'm not weak."

"I know you're not. Pit, you are one of the strongest angels here." He gave me a pleading look before continuing. "But even this…..transferring some your power to someone else….it drains us of energy Pit. And out of the two of us, I think you would be of much greater use to Palutena than I would ever be. I mean look at me. I'm not exactly a fighter, you know." He looked me squarely in the eye with determination and continued with his monologue. "Whereas you have been trained for these types of situations. You know what to do. I don't, and that's funny; me not knowing something. I'm the angel of education for crying out loud-"

"Okay Julius. I get it," I reply while chuckling, cutting him off from further ranting. I give him a smile and say, "You can help her. Meanwhile, I'll go over there," I shift my gaze over to Ahriman who is standing over Tiffany's body still with a devious grin plastered on his face, "and try to stop Ahriman from causing any more damage." Julius gave me a goofy grin and a thumbs up before I nodded to him, wished him good luck and dashed over to Ahriman, blocking his second attack on Tiffany's physical body.

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**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

Talking…..someone's talking…but who? "_Hello?_" Well, so much for a conversation. I can't even get my own mouth to move, let alone speak. Unless if they can read minds, I'm alone in this predicament. "_Great….and I'm still in pain. Can this day get any worse?_"

"Okay Julius. I get it."

"_What? Who said that?_" It sounded like Pit, but I couldn't be sure.

"You can help her. Meanwhile, I'll go over there and try to stop Ahriman from causing any more damage." It is Pit. I heard someone faintly running away, and then a loud clang, like the sound of metal against metal.

"_Pit? No, please! Don't leave me….._" Apparently the day could, and did in fact, get worse.

"Don't worry Tiffany. This won't hurt a bit, although you may feel a bit lightheaded. That's just a common side effect." That sounded like Julius. Why is he comforting me though? And then a totally different thought entered my mind.

"_Side effect? Of what? Julius, what are you doing?_" I felt someone's hand hover over my abdomen, the place I believe Palutena had been stabbed and was now causing me pain. The silence was overwhelming between the two of us, mostly because I couldn't yell at him over having his hand on one of my many tickle-spots and he was obviously concentrating on something…but what? Then I noticed something else. He was using both hands. One was over my 'injury' and the other was over my heart.

Suddenly another sensation occurred through my body. It was kinda like Palutena pushing herself into my head earlier, except a lot less painful and more…..what's the word I'm looking for…..peaceful? Yeah, peaceful. To sound even more ridiculous, let's just say it felt like he was pushing the warmth of the sun into my heart. Ugh, now I sound like I'm in a romance novel…yeah you know what, never mind.

"Tiffany? Can you hear me?" Julius asked, concerned. I nodded my head as a response since I still couldn't talk. "You're not in pain are you? Because you're making a weird face, and I can't tell if you're in pain or if you have really bad gas." He said that last sentence with a chuckle. Damn him. I slowly opened my eyes and was greeted by chaos…..again. Yep, that's exactly what someone wants to wake up to. Demons and angels fighting over who gets to rule over all of Angel Land…..but the angel leaning over my body was a nice sight. Although I could do without the smirk on his face. "Somehow I knew that last comment would wake you up."

"Shut up…." I said with a shaky voice. I let a smile cross over my lips as I knew I had regained my ability to speak. "And for your information, you are wrong on both of those statements. I neither have gas nor am I in pain." I gave him a grin as he laughed again.

"Well I am glad to hear that," he said with a smile. His hands were still hovering over my 'injury' and heart, but now that my eyes were open I could see that there was a light being emitted from them.

"Julius? What are you doing?" I asked him warily. He looked me in the face with a serious expression.

"I'm healing you."

"How? I mean….I know you guys are angels and stuff, but what? That means you also have the ability to heal?"

"Yes, except normally we're not allowed to do this…." He seemed like he wanted to say more, but then cut himself off. "_He must be hiding something_," I thought to myself.

"Dare I ask why?"

"Maybe later. Right now, healing you is our top priority."

"Aww, I'm touched," I said jokingly. Even though it came out as a joke, I truly did mean it. And even though this was a touching moment there was still the fact that there were demons and angels fighting to the death all around us. "Okay I have another question."

"Well as you humans would say, 'fire away!'" he said with a smile. "_How can he be so happy in a time like this?_" I thought to myself. Ignoring it for the moment, I went ahead and asked him what was bugging me.

"Why is healing me the most important thing right now?"

"Because by healing you, we're also healing your body, and before you ask, let's just say the healing process is faster when it works directly on the soul rather than the physical body."

"Alright, I get it…..I think. Give me a few minutes and I'll have it."

"I don't think you'll have that much time." I scrunched my face together in thought.

"Why?" Julius glanced over his shoulder, making my eyes follow his movement until they rested on Pit battling a very pissed off Ahriman. "Oh…..never mind."

"Yeah," Julius replied, sounding weak.

"Hey Julius, are you okay? You don't sound too good." He didn't look so hot either. His face was pale and he seemed like he was missing that sort of angelic glow that everyone in Skyworld seemed to possess.

"I'll be fine." He looked down at my injury one more time before looking back at me. "I think that'll do it." He gave me a small smile before slowly rising to his feet. He extended a hand to me, helping me get up.

"I thought you guys couldn't touch me in my soul form."

"We can when we want to."

"Wow, I am just learning a lot today about you guys!"

"Well, I am Julius, the angel in charge of knowledge in all of Angel Land!" he stated matter-of-factly.

"Dude, that's kind of a mouth-full. Can I just call you Julius?" I questioned teasingly with a goofy grin.

"Sure, why not. You have been anyways," he replied with the same goofy grin. We laughed for a little bit until we heard a screech come from behind me. A dark form flew through me and knocked Julius down, hard.

"Hey, get off of him!" I yelled angrily. I attempted to punch the demon but my hands kept flying through it. My anger and anxiety started to peak until I felt a sudden jolt of energy flow through my arm and into my hand. When I glanced down at it I found a light orb floating on my palm. Looking back at the demon, which was now scratching Julius up pretty badly, I closed my hand into a fist and punched at the demon once more, this time getting a hit in on it…..actually it was more than that. Let's just say that sucker flew! "Yeah!" I yelled triumphantly, fist-pumping energetically into the air. "Don't mess with me or my friends, you little punk!" Glancing back down at Julius, he didn't look too good. His eyes were shut and his newly-formed cuts were now bleeding. "Julius?" He opened his eyes slowly before answering me.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"Well you don't look fine to me. Here, let me help move you to a hidden spot at least." I grabbed his arm and started heading for a secluded spot away from the fray, but not without a few demons catching sight of us walking away. My anxiety reached a new peak as I felt the jolt of energy go through my left arm and once again punched my way through them as they kept getting in my way, sending each of them into a wall and causing it to crumble on them and hurt them even more. In other words, they didn't stand a chance. That's right, for a moment in time I got to be a badass. Once I got Julius settled into a corner of a building that wasn't completely torn down (it looked like it used to be a shop), he looked up at me in wonder.

"It seems the demons cannot hurt you in your spirit form, but you can hurt them by tapping into Palutena's powers." I looked over at him with a scared expression, narrowing my eyes at him in an attempt to scare him out of the idea that I knew he was thinking about.

"So what are you saying?"

"Tiffany, you're our secret weapon." I quickly went into protest-mode and flailed my arms in front of me as if I was warding off an attack.

"No no no no no, no way am I getting in the middle of this! Besides, I'm a lover not a fighter!"

"Not from what I just witnessed," Julius stated in a hushed tone.

"I can't possi- hey now! What's that supposed to mean?" I said, forgetting about what I was going to say.

"Plus, you are already in the middle of this whether you like it or not. You can't just ignore it any longer. The demons know about you and will not leave you alone until you are either dead or are fighting for them….but most likely they'll just want you dead since you are harboring a piece of Palutena's soul." My eyes turned into dinner plates for a few seconds and suddenly my anger was reaching the same level as my anxiety. "_My freedom is at stake here, damn it! No fucking way am I letting them take away my existence without a fight!_" I thought angrily.

I gritted my teeth as I said, with a dark look in my eyes, "Well then, I guess I don't have any other choice than to help take them down, now do I?" Julius looked down at the ground in despair.

"I'm afraid not." I slowly stood up and began walking towards the middle of the battle again, knowing that I had no choice. Before I was out of Julius' eyesight I looked over at my shoulder at his beat-up form.

"Stay here Julius, and please. Stay alive." With that said, I turned back and continued heading towards Ahriman and Pit.

If I wanted to go back home, I'd have to win this battle for the angels. "_Well isn't my life turning into a living hell…..literally._" Just thinking about the oncoming battle was causing Palutena's powers to flow throughout my body. Funny thing is it seems that when I'm in soul form her powers don't make me tired anymore. Either that or else whatever Julius did to me seems to have caused some sort of change in my 'powers'. "_Ahriman better watch out, because this fight is not going to be easy_."

* * *

**Author's Note****: My logic…..it burns! Lol There are so many little things that you have to keep track of and I'm sorry for that! (Maybe I'll put all of them in the 'EXTRAS' chapter so you can look back on them and be all like, "Yeah! That's right! I completely forgot about that but I remember now because of this lovely little tidbit of info that sits before my face!" Hahaha jk jk :) **

**Hahaha don't you love my little attempt at comic relief? Sorry if it sounds like it doesn't belong there. I was just getting sick of typing up a bunch of depressing words and decided to throw that out there. STUPID COMEDY IS STUPID! YEAH! XD  
But hey, in a way, it kinda does belong there because in my mind, Julius acts serious most of the time, but when he's under pressure he'll act like a clown to relieve the stress in the atmosphere. Pinch red clown nose now *honk honk*! XD lol**

**Again, I'm still not entirely sure if I'm going to make a sequel to this or not. If you'd like to vote on it, the poll is still on my profile. So check it out if you have the time! :)**

**[$(1)$] – s Worth of Music****: Today we have "Oh, Lolita" by **_**A Love Like Pi**_**. I bet a lot of you haven't heard of this band. I've known about them for a couple years now. They are pretty good if you give them a chance. :D I did and now they are one of my favorite bands! Hooray for discovering new music!**

**http:/www. youtube. com/watch?v=l_dXq6vix8**

**P.S. – Can you tell I have fun typing up these author notes? Hahaha I should knock it off…but I just have way too much fun talking to you guys! :P**


	22. Chapter 21 The End of Some Evil Has Come

**Chapter 21: The End of (Some) Evil Has Come**

**Author's Note****: …..don't ask about the title. XD Please, just don't! lol I would've named it THE FINAL BATTLE or something like that but everyone does that for their epic finale fight scenes. So this is what I get for trying to be different….dang it.**

**Alright, so, um….I tried to do some 'action-y' scenes in this chapter since this is basically the final battle. I'm sorry if I failed at them though. It was supposed to turn out epic, but I'm kinda having my doubts. :/ FYI, there is blood in this chapter. But not too much! Before you start reading, I'd like to say I'm sorry for all the little stuff that's happening in this chapter. There are tons of things to keep track of and I'm sorry if it's too much.**

**I'd also like to note…this is my first upload in 2012! Woohoo! Okay, now you can read. ;)**

**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

My first thought as I headed towards Pit and Ahriman wasn't exactly what you'd think it would be. I wasn't thinking about "_How should I attack Ahriman?_" or "_Should I have Pit step out?_" In fact I wasn't even thinking about the battle just yet. Nope, my first thought was, "_Is Palutena alright over there?_" She was still lying down on the ground and I couldn't tell if she was still injured or not due to Ahriman's attack from earlier. So instead of getting into the battle I headed for Palutena first. Luckily for me, there weren't any demons that tried to stop me. "_Maybe they learned their lesson_," I thought to myself, chuckling at the idea.

Once reaching her, I knelt down next to her only to find her unconscious. The pain must've knocked her out or something. Looking down at where her injury was, or at least where it used to be since Julius supposedly healed us, I noticed a blood stain on the dress that I'd been given…er…taken…from the hospital. "_Dang_," I thought, "_and that dress was really pretty too!_" Carefully, I lifted up a torn section near the injury so that I could inspect it. Sure enough, just as Julius told me, the injury was gone. "_Angel power, huh? Must be some pretty powerful stuff if it can save a person from death._"

*_Clang!_*

Hearing the sound of metal against metal in the battle behind me, I decided now would be a great time to wake Palutena up. Poking her face seemed like the only option I had….good thing it worked. "Ugh…"

"Oh good, you're waking up!" I said excitedly. It took her a bit, but slowly she was able to focus on me.

Taking a big breath, she said calmly, "Yes, thank goodness." She still sounded a bit out of it, but it was good to see her alive…..umm…in my body…..again.

"How're you feeling?"

"Actually, I'm feeling a lot better than I was a few minutes ago," she said with a bleary expression. Despite what she said, she clearly still wasn't all there yet.

"Are you able to stand up?" With help from me, she was able to get up on her feet. She was even able to stand there on her own after a few seconds. "Looks like it…..that's good."

She laughed before saying, "I've forgotten how weak humans are."

"Say what?" I asked her in a dangerous tone.

"Oh, no! I didn't mean anything against you! It's just that humans are, well, fragile when compared to gods. You understand right?" I gave her a small smile.

"Yeah, I do. We humans are pretty delicate."

*_Clang!_*

Once again, the sound of battle woke me up from my worrying over Palutena. Now instead of getting worked up over her, I was getting worked up over Pit. "_Damn, I just won't get a break until this crap is over with_," I thought to myself. Looking over my shoulder I could see Pit was holding up fairly well for being a lone angel going up against an almighty demon leader.

"Hopefully my delicacy can hold on for a moment," I stated, more so to myself than Palutena, but she heard anyways. Panic crossed her face as her eyes looked from Pit's fight to me.

Shaking her head, she said, "Dear, I refuse to see you go over there and fight. This doesn't concern you."

"Julius says it does. You know him! He's the angel of all-knowing-ness-ness, whatever his long title is. Frankly I just call him Julius. In fact we just worked this out a few minutes ago," I said, trailing off in the end. Shaking my head to chase away my rambling thoughts, I continued on, "Anyways, the point is, he said this does concern me because the demons will want to see me dead since your soul is in my body," I stated while motioning to my physical body, which Palutena still had control over. She still had a look of uncertainty on her face.

"I still refuse. You won't be able to fight. Right now, you're just a soul."

"And I will be when I go in for the kill," I said proudly. She looked at me as if I was insane. Hey, maybe I was. I was talking to my own physical body after all.

"Tiffany, how is a human soul going to kill off a demon leader when even a goddess couldn't handle it?"

"I just need you to trust me on this." She still looked like she didn't believe it. I pondered over what I should do when a thought occurred to me. "I have an idea. Really quickly, do you think you could teach me one more thing?"

"Now?"

"Yeah now!" I said with a grin, allowing my confidence to shine through.

**Pit's P.O.V.**

I think it's fair to say, I have really done it this time. Pissing off Ahriman wasn't enough the first time I did it. No, I had to go back for seconds!

"Hold still you little pigeon!"

"Hey now!" Stopping another one of his attacks, I shoved him a few meters away; a safe enough distance for me to argue with him. "I'm no pigeon! Call me a bird all you like, I actually don't mind it that much anymore. But pigeon is where I draw the line!" Surprisingly enough, Ahriman didn't attempt to come at me again. Nope, instead he stood there and continued the argument.

"What's the difference? Pigeons are a species of bird!"

"Pigeons also like to poop all over people in public. I do not," I stated matter-of-factly. Even with the amount of distance between us, I could still see Ahriman's eye twitch in frustration. The look on his face was priceless. "_For once, something about him amuses me_," I thought to myself.

Ahriman shook his head as if clearing it of our 'discussion' (if you can even call it that), and shouted, "Enough of this! I know what you're doing!" To be honest, I wasn't planning anything, but I went along with it anyways.

"Oh do you?"

"Yes! Er….no…..gah! What was the point of this argument?" he shouted while gripping his head in fury.

"I don't know. You tell me," I said while raising a questioning eyebrow. Instead of talking though, he only raised his sword and ran at me again. Quickly returning to battle position, I blocked his attack and side-stepped to his right knowing that he'd have a hard time swiping his sword at me from the angle he was at. But he did something I hadn't seen coming. Bringing his left elbow around, he swung it right into my gut, successfully knocking the wind out of me. "_Ow, okay. That hurt_," I thought to myself.

As I held my stomach and gasped for air, I heard Ahriman move behind me, chuckling to himself. Taking, what I assume was his foot, he kicked me to the ground and got me into a similar position as what he had Palutena in earlier. I looked up at the dark mass of clouds above me as Ahriman came over and held his sword up high in the air. Lightning flashed across the sky, allowing me to see his manic face. "_This can't be the end_," I thought to myself darkly. He roughly placed a foot on my stomach, preventing me from any escape. "Goodbye Pit," he growled. I decided I didn't want to see him finish me off, so I looked away. When the lightning lit up the sky again, I saw a small, slender figure running up behind him, a sword raised over their shoulder.

"Palutena, no…" I said in a hushed tone.

"Your goddess will not save you angel. Perish by my sword and die!" Just before he brought his weapon down on me, a glittering golden sword struck him in his side causing him to roar in pain into the atmosphere. Ahriman stumbled back and put a hand to his side, attempting to stop the bleeding.

"You're not touching him!" a familiar girl's voice shouted angrily.

"Tiffany?" I sputtered in surprise. She didn't respond. All she did was stand protectively in front of me, her glowing sword raised to scare anyone off. Granted she wasn't holding it right, but hey. "_It's the thought that counts_."

**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

As Ahriman screamed in rage, I decided now would be a great time to grab Pit and run for the hills…..but since we were in the heavens we had to go for the next best thing; a smashed up wall. Grabbing a hold of his wrist, and putting my newly made sword in its sheath, I sprinted for the nearest one while dodging Ahriman's long distance fire ball attacks, which were aimed at me by the way.

"What were you thinking?" Pit screamed at me as we ran. I looked at him with big eyes, pleading for him to understand.

"I was thinking I should help you!" I yelled back as we hid behind some rubble. In other words, what was left of a building's wall. Sitting down, Pit stared at me again like I was an idiot.

"By attacking him yourself?" he said back, breathlessly.

"Yes," I stated happily. Taken aback, Pit appeared to be retaliating his thoughts.

"You're insane. You do realize you've just dug yourself into an even deeper hole now, right?"

"I don't see what the big deal is. He already wanted me dead. How does this make it any worse?" Pit looked like he was at a loss for words.

"…..Good point," he said in defeat.

"Thank you." I gave him a cocky smile that, in itself, said 'I just outsmarted the smart-ass!' However, he looked like he wasn't done talking just yet.

"Don't get cocky. First off, how in the world did you get a sword?"

"I made it," I said sensibly.

"You made it…." Pit said to himself. He didn't ask it as a question, but I answered him excitedly anyways.

"Yep!" I gave him a big toothy grin to show him how confident I was about it. He gave me a crooked smile back, but it didn't last long. It took only a couple of seconds for him to go back into serious mode.

"Secondly, how did you know how to make it?"

"I asked Palutena to teach me really quick. Good thing I'm kind of a fast learner or else you'd be a goner."

"Yeah, thanks for that by the way," he said smiling while rubbing the back of his neck timidly.

"You're welcome," I mumbled shyly. Not being used to the whole 'hero' thing, I wasn't sure what else I was supposed to say. Sadly, our little moment was cut short by a blast to the small bit of wall we were hiding behind. Trying to muffle my scream, I hid my face into Pit's chest. Realizing what I did, I quickly pulled away. "I'm sorry," I said nervously, a rosy blush covering my cheeks. He gave me a gentle smile in return.

"It's okay." Another blast to the wall prevented the conversation from getting anywhere after that. Though instead of hiding, the loud noise just caused me to cringe. "Alright, well since I have the feeling I'm not going to be talking you out of this fight," I nodded with a smile, allowing him to proceed, "we should probably figure out some sort of plan to knock Ahriman down for good."

*_Boom!_*

"And fast," he added, earning another nod from me. We secretly agreed to head to a different location to make our plans. Scurrying along the floors of the long abandoned building, we made it behind a second wall that was hidden further inside the building; this one being more wholly there than the first.

"Well, I kind of have a plan already," I whispered to him.

"Is it good?" he asked with a quirked brow.

"I'm not sure."

"I'll be the judge of that."

"Okay, well Julius said that I'm your guys' 'secret weapon' because I can attack the demons, whereas they can't, while in my soul form." Pit looked happy to hear this.

"That's brilliant! You are still in soul form, right?" he asked cautiously, probably afraid to hear that I'm back in my body again.

"Yeah, I am. Why? You couldn't tell?"

"No. Either you've gotten better at making yourself look solid or something happened when Julius used his angel power on you." I scrunched my face in thought.

"Is that what he meant by 'This could cause a side-effect'?"

"I'm guessing so. So if my logic is correct here….." Pit looked down at the floor in thought before returning his gaze to me. When he looked back up into my eyes, they looked happier than they did a few seconds ago. "Tiffany, I think Palutena's powers are connected to your soul, not just your body."

"What?"

"Yeah, and I also think that because of Julius' angel power being used to heal you, it caused those powers to be heightened as a sort of 'side-effect'. Did you by any chance use them recently?"

"Well, yeah. I kicked demon ass when I saved Julius. It may also be good for you to know that I don't feel drained when I use Palutena's powers anymore."

"….You really _are_ our secret weapon," Pit said in awe as his eyes grew wider in amazement. "This could work in our favor, majorly," he said with a sly grin.

"Alright so here's what I was thinking. I go back out there and pretend like he caught me-"

"Wait, what?"

"Don't worry, Pit. I've seen this done in movies all the time."

"What are movies?" My mind blanked away from my plan as I looked at him stunned. "_Oh yeah, that's right. He's from a different world Tiff! Of course he's not going to know what movies are!_" I yelled at myself internally.

"Not important enough to tell you about right now, but maybe later." He still looked distraught, but I continued to tell him my plan anyways.

**3****rd**** Person P.O.V.**

As Tiffany told Pit her strategy, Ahriman paced around the crumbled building in anger. "_Where are they?_" he thought angrily to himself. "_Surely they are still in this area! They couldn't have escaped so quickly without me seeing them._" While he continued to march along the broken rubble that was once a wall, he caught something moving in the corner of his vision. Looking to his left, he saw the human girl, Tiffany, walking out of a hidden hallway that was once a part of the building.

"There you are…." he said through gritted teeth.

"Here I am," she shakily said back to him, trying her best to look afraid. Attempting to look like a feeble human was just phase one of her 'master plan.'

Taking her seriously, Ahriman said, "You're giving up? Just like that?" He chuckled darkly before continuing to say, "I always knew humans were weak but I didn't realize they had not the dignity to fight for what they believe in." Without saying anything, Tiffany just stared at him emotionlessly. Eyeing her sheathed sword, he said carefully, "But just to make sure you don't try anything funny, little girl, drop your weapon!" Tiffany did as she was told and placed her sword on the ground at her feet. "Now," he said with narrowed eyes, "come here!" Slowly moving towards Ahriman, Tiffany shuffled her feet in his direction, trying to divert his attention for as long as she could.

"_Come on, Pit. Hurry up and get into position! I don't want to be too far away from that sword,_" Tiffany thought to herself. She didn't plan on Ahriman telling her to drop the sword. Hell, she didn't plan on him even noticing it. This might cause her plan to change its course just a little bit. After all, she needed that sword if she was to take Ahriman down instantly.

"And where is that angel friend of yours?" Ahriman continued to glare at her. "_This could be a trap_," he began thinking.

"Escaping while he still has the chance," Tiffany deadpanned. That shocked the demon lord.

"What? Then what are you still doing here?" Ahriman asked while pointing a finger at the girl.

"Giving myself up. I'm done running away. I can't do this anymore," she said quietly, stopping in front of him. The human looked off to the side with sadness in her eyes. This caused Ahriman to smile deviously.

"I'll admit this was a valiant effort on your part. Saving a lone angel by giving yourself up to me…but it was also a stupid decision." Quickly, he shot his hand out and grabbed her throat…..or at least he tried to. Since he didn't know that he couldn't touch her, this left him wide open for her to attack. His eyes widened in shock as she formed a light ball in her fist and punched him in the gut, but the punch didn't do anything except leave a slight burn mark. But of course, since he's a demon leader it'd take a lot more than a girl's punch to take him down. "_And that's where Pit comes in_," Tiffany thought to herself, smiling. Jumping out from his hiding place located quite a few yards behind Ahriman, Pit readied his bow and shot at Ahriman's torso, successfully hitting his target. A loud roar echoed over Skyworld and suddenly all of the fighting stopped. Both demons and angels alike looked over at Ahriman to see an arrow was stuck through his gut. Ripping it out, Ahriman growled in pain due to touching the light.

"I'm gonna guess light's your biggest weakness?" Tiffany asked him nonchalantly, causing Ahriman to look up at her and away from Pit who was already aiming another arrow at him.

"You little brat," Ahriman spat out in fury. He threw another punch at her, but once again failed to get a hit in. His fist flew through her chest, causing him to lose his footing. "How come I can't hit you?" he yelled frustrated.

"Because I'm not in my physical body. You're looking at me in soul form, 'sweetheart'," Tiffany said condescendingly. This caused him to sneer in her direction. Meanwhile, Pit was over behind his wall, arrow cocked, laughing his butt off. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. A feared demon leader was being mocked by a human girl.

"This is just too funny," he said with a grin. That grin faltered though when he realized that he said that a little too loudly. Ahriman looked over in his direction with hatred written on his face. He turned and began storming over in the angel's direction, ready to beat him up for the trick that he and the girl pulled. Tiffany, taking the opportunity, ran over to the deserted sword and picked it up.

"Boss! The human!"

"Get the human!"

"She's got a sword sir! Take her down first!" All of the warnings Ahriman's henchmen were giving him made him return his gaze to Tiffany. The angels all just looked on in curiosity. The human stood there, looking ready to fight, with the sword resting on her shoulder. Slowly, Ahriman reached for his own sword as he prowled over to Tiffany.

"I may not be able to touch you, but I'm certainly not stupid. I know that the moment I turn my back, you're going to try and strike me down." He slashed his sword around the empty space in front of him in a mocking way. "Let me tell you, that's not happening."

"Oh good! This wouldn't be much of a fight if you went down that easily," Tiffany countered. Ahriman growled in return. He lunged forward, swiping his sword in an upward stroke. Tiffany jumped back and swiped her sword at his left side, which he quickly countered.

"You know nothing of how to fight with a sword," Ahriman said triumphantly.

"True," she said before dodging another one of his attacks. "I don't. In fact," she jumped backwards again, just missing being struck at by the tip of Ahriman's blade, "this the first time I've ever fought with one."

"Then why do you bother using it?" Ahriman questioned as he swiped his sword to Tiffany's legs, successfully making it go through both limbs. However the hit didn't even cause her harm, what with her being a spirit and all.

"Oh believe me. I have my reasons," Tiffany muttered, looking off to her right in thought. Suddenly, a loud roar echoed over all of Skyworld. Tiffany glanced back up at Ahriman only to find him gripping a light arrow that penetrated through his right shoulder, causing him to drop his sword. Tiffany looked over at Pit and gave him a smile, sending him a silent thank you for shooting at Ahriman's sword arm. Taking the opportunity that she was given, she ran behind Ahriman and stood there for a couple of seconds. Finding the spot she wanted to strike at, she raised her sword of light and brought it down on its target…..but the sword didn't make it as far as she wanted it to. It seemed her sword was still stuck above her head. Tiffany looked up to find one of Ahriman's little demons holding the blade with both of its claw-like hands. She started pulling, trying to get her sword back, but the stupid thing just wouldn't let go. It squealed due to touching the light being emitted from the sword, but it still held its grip pretty strongly. Throughout Tiffany's struggle over the sword, Ahriman shakily stood back up. "Come on! Get off!" she shouted in frustration. Before she knew it, the little demon decided it would fly away with the sword with her holding it. "Oh Jesus!" Tiffany gasped as her feet left the ground. "Ah!" she screamed. Pit, seeing what was happening decided to run in and help now. Not that it was part of the plan, but then again, Tiffany being carried high into the air wasn't a part of it either. Making his bow turn into two daggers, he ran up to Ahriman and whistled for a few angels to come down and help him. Two centurions appeared suddenly by his side, flying as fast as he was running.

"Troops, I need you two to help me take down Ahriman!" They nodded to him in silent agreement and then flew ahead of him in Ahriman's direction. Both roughly grabbed an arm of his and flung him down into the ground/clouds, successfully pinning him down and keeping him from thrashing around too much. Pit reached them and quickly brought one of his daggers down unto Ahriman's chest, right into his heart, earning everyone another loud roar from the demon leader.

"GRAGH!" Once again, everything in the area went silent. The demons looked on in sadness as their leader died within seconds of his final scream. Blood soaked his outfit and the clouds under him.

"Goodbye, Ahriman," Pit said quietly as he watched Ahriman's eyes close forever.

*_POP!_*

Pit looked up at the sudden noise and saw that the lesser demons were disappearing. One by one, they poofed out of existence. All of the angels looked around as even the dead demons disappeared, leaving the angels and a broken Skyworld alone. The dark sky subsided and soon everything looked the way it used to…..except for the damaged buildings, piles of rubble, and demons that were still poofing away. Those other things would have to be cleaned up later.

"Pit!" Pit looked over his shoulder to see Palutena peeking over a pile of rubble. He waved cheerfully to her, and she waved back. Coming out from her hiding place with Julius in tow, she walked over to Pit with grace even though she was still in Tiffany's body. "You did it Pit!"

"Actually, we all did it," he replied. Everyone nodded approvingly, all of them glad that the 'war' was finally over. Smiles were on everyone's faces at this point. Palutena giggled before replying to Pit.

"I suppose you are correct." She looked around at everyone, seeing all of their smiles, but couldn't see the specific person she was looking for. "Pit…..where is Tiffany?"

_~~~ Meanwhile, way up high in the sky ~~~_

"Hehehe, mine! Mine!" the demon shouted greedily. Its laughter, along with the wind, made Tiffany shiver. She glared up at the thing hoping it would just disappear. Her wish came true because suddenly, the little demon disappeared with a 'pop!' sound, leaving Tiffany alone….hundreds of feet in the sky…holding her sword…..without the ability to fly. The feeling of falling came crashing in to her mind.

"Oh…my…God!" Tiffany screamed at the top of her lungs as she plummeted to the ground at an alarmingly fast rate. Pit looked away from Palutena when he heard Tiffany scream and immediately ran over to the spot he presumed she would be falling to. From where he was, he could hear her shouting "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God" constantly in fear. He flew up and met her halfway through her fall, catching her gently in his arms. Tiffany gasped, trying to get air back into her lungs from all the screaming she was doing. She threw her arms around Pit's neck and clung herself to him tightly.

"It's okay, I got you," Pit whispered to her gently, trying to calm her down. It did all that and made her blush. He flapped his way down to the ground again as smoothly as possible. Upon reaching stable ground, he set Tiffany down, allowing her to stand on her own. She quickly looked around her bright surroundings, searching for any more demons, but found none.

"Are they all gone?" Palutena walked over in all of her grace to make sure Tiffany was alright.

"Yes, they are. Well done Tiffany! Your plan worked," Palutena answered her question with a smile. As Tiffany looked over at Palutena, she felt a pull that was too powerful to ignore anymore. Eyes widening in shock, Tiffany was suddenly sucked back into her body. What was once a bright new world in Tiffany's eyes suddenly became nothing but darkness as she fell unconscious for the umpteenth time since she arrived in this strange realm.

**Author's Note****: Hahaha I get a weird 'Robin Hood: Men in Tights' feeling from this chapter. Funny, since I haven't seen the movie in ages. Anyways, sorry for the poor transition from the last chapter into this one. I know it was sucky (just like the title), but I didn't want to run into the battle so quickly.  
Also, don't 'cha love Pit's way of handling the situation. I didn't want him to be all serious and stuff because, after reading about his game **_**Kid Icarus:**__**Uprising **_**from Nintendo Power (my brother gets the magazine and I happened to notice who was on the front cover!), I felt he should act the way he will in the game; a goofball that fights with his goddess' advice. Hopefully you all agree!**

**Anyways, tell me what you think! ;) Reviews inspire me! (Really…..they do.)**

**[$(1)$] – s Worth of Music****: I'm really into acoustic songs lately, (I really wanted an acoustic guitar for Christmas but never got it…darn) so I've decided to give you one! **_**Fully Alive**__**(Acoustic) **_**by Flyleaf. Some of you may have heard of them, and possibly even the song. Personally, I like the acoustic version better than the rock style…..but that's just my opinion. ;)**

**http:/www. Aimini .net/view/?fid=XVe7tMTVJGlydh6yNZcP **

**See ya next time!**


	23. Chapter 22 The Aftermath

**Chapter 22: The Aftermath**

**Author's Note****: Hey everybody! Sorry for the unnecessarily long wait! One thing led to another (new job, taking finals and hoping I pass them….which I did by the way :D, catching up with high school friends because I hadn't seen them in months, and a bunch of other reasons). Basically I kept putting this story at the end of my to do list all the time and I sincerely apologize for that. **

**Also, sorry for the crappy outcome of this chapter! I really had to get it out so you all would know that I didn't die and/or give up on this story.**

**Well, whether you forgive me or not (or if you even care lol), I hope you…ENJOY!**

* * *

**Julius' P.O.V.**

Pacing back and forth in the lounge of the infirmary, Pit and I were waiting to hear about Tiffany's condition. Looking back on it, since she was in soul form, she couldn't get hurt. But Palutena had been in her physical body…..and that _did_ get damaged. "_But then I healed her_," I retorted to myself. "_So she should be fine….right?_" My internal conflict stopped once the nurse came walking out. She wore a straight-faced expression that caused me to worry.

"How is she?" I asked cautiously. The tension felt like it was building as the nurse waited to give the verdict on Tiffany's health.

"She is fine," she said with a sudden smile. Both Pit and I let out relieved sighs at the good news. "Her body just needs to rest now."

"Can we see her?" Pit inquired further.

"If you wish, then I don't see why not." Pit suddenly lurched for the door to Tiffany's room, but before he could get any further the nurse quickly reached out for his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. "But just so you are aware, she _is_ sleeping right now. Like I said. She needs her rest," the nurse said softly.

"I'll try not to be loud," Pit replied gingerly. Returning his focus back to the door, he cautiously grabbed the door handle as if though he would get shocked if he touched it. Lightly turning it, he pushed it open slowly to reveal a white room that contained only a bed, a couple of chairs, and two bedside tables. The large lone window on the far wall revealed broad daylight outside, causing the white walls in the room to almost glow. It reminded me of our new beginning. A beginning where we hopefully don't have to fret over demons anymore. Pit and I heard shuffling coming from the bed as we saw Tiffany waking up from her recent nap. She stretched her arms out while a yawn made its way from her mouth. Cracking her eyes open, one at a time, she saw us.

"Hey," Pit said with a smile. Tiffany returned it tiredly.

"Hey." She glanced over at me as I made my way over to one of the two chairs in the room. She furrowed her brows as if confused by something. "You were injured too, weren't you? What happened?" I gave her a tired expression.

"Hmm? Oh! Well, to put it bluntly, I'm an angel. We heal fast," I stated with a cocky grin.

"Lucky you," she responded weakly, letting her head sink back into the fluffy white pillow. Her weakened state caused my grin to falter. Glancing over at Pit, I could tell he was a bit concerned as well.

"Is there anything you need?" Placing a finger on her lips, Tiffany pondered over this for a good ten seconds. The right corner of her lips lifted slightly as she seemed to have gotten an idea.

"One of those berry angel cake thingers sounds pretty good right now." She had a dazed look on her face, probably dreaming of the dessert.

"I can go get one!" Pit said loudly, jumping up from his chair. He already started heading for the door when Tiffany's voice stopped him.

"No Pit, it's okay! I'll live," Tiffany stated with a chuckle. Sheepishly, Pit obliged her orders and sat back down in his chair.

"Well, the important thing is you're feeling better…..you _are_ feeling better, right?" I asked, hoping for a good response.

"Yeppers, I am," she replied with a big smile. Immediately, relief poured over me as I sighed and returned the smile. Suddenly a knock on the door caused us all to pause and glance at it. "I wonder who that is."

"I'm not sure…Pit?" I looked at him with a questioning glance hoping he would know. He shook his head while shrugging. "_Guess he doesn't know either_." Cautiously, Pit got up from his chair and walked over to the closed door where another knock was heard. Grabbing the doorknob, he turned it slowly and cracked the door open a bit. At least…..enough for him to sneak a peek at who was there.

"Oh, Captain Pit!" a girlish voice said, surprised. "You _are_ in here. That's great because I have news to share with you!" Looking over his shoulder at me, Pit opened the door wider to reveal to us the Angel Court secretary. Whatever message she has probably came from one (or most) of the Angel Court members. It took her a couple of steps into the room and a hair flip to finally notice that I was in the room too….or perhaps she already knew. "Oh, and Julius! Perfect! I kind of assumed you guys would be here with your human friend," she casually looked over at Tiffany in her bed. "Speaking of which, hello Miss Tiffany!" she said happily while waving energetically, still keeping a firm grip on the clipboard that she was carrying with her.

"Hi," Tiffany said sort of meekly while giving a small wave of her hand. Before Tiffany could say anything, the secretary continued on with her little speech.

"Might I just say, simply amazing work you did yesterday! Everyone is so relieved that the burden of Ahriman and his demons is gone. Yay!" Ugh, she sounds even worse than last century's Angel Court secretary. I swear they are just getting girlier with each passing year. "I mean, seriously. The way you did that thing, with the thing, and then-" alright, time to cut her off.

"Ahem," I said, loudly enough to catch her attention. She looked confused for a second and then turned her gaze towards me.

"Yes?"

"You had something to tell us?" I questioned her with a quirked brow.

"Oh yeah! But um…..it's strictly only meant for Angel Court members to hear, so um…..Miss Tiffany, if you don't mind. Can I take them out into the hall for a minute?" Tiffany gave her a nod causing the secretary to grin in delight. "Yay! Thank you so much! You're so kind!" she yelled while grabbing both me and Pit and pushing us out the door. She turned to Tiffany one last time to say "Toodaloo!" and then shut the door behind her. When the secretary turned back towards Pit and I her sugary sweet exterior melted away to reveal a stoic young woman. "_Huh, and here I thought she was actually that girly and laid back. She's a great actress,_" I thought to myself. "Alright gentlemen, if you would so kindly follow me." She turned on her heel and began walking down the hall, away from us. Pit and I looked at each other confused but then shrugged it off and followed behind her. I could faintly hear her mutter to herself something along the lines of, "There should be a meeting room around here somewhere."

After a few minutes, she did end up finding a room for us to talk in private. Granted it was on the other end of the infirmary, but still. Once we were seated she got straight to the point…literally.

"Alright boys, here's the deal." She slapped her clipboard down onto the small white table in front of her, causing both Pit and I to jump. In fact, Pit looked about ready to reach for some weapon he most likely had on him. "Some of our angel scientists from the health program think they might have found a way to get Palutena's soul released from Tiffany's body." She waited a moment for that information to sink into our minds. Dumbfounded, Pit and I stared at the secretary like she was crazy. But suddenly, an idea struck me.

"Wait, isn't that more like alchemy?" I asked, a bit intrigued by this topic. Being the head of every angel's education can do that to an angelic being…okay fine…just me.

"Yes, but it's alchemy with a bit of our magic thrown into it, so it will defy all laws of science."

"So…that means," Pit began, "all that would need to be done is the creation of her body and a method of transporting her soul from one body to another." With a smile the assistant responded.

"Exactly."

* * *

**Author's Note****: Just thought I'd let you all know, I'm officially a CNA. That's right guys, I took the test and I passed! Woohoo! And I got hired at a nursing home! I'm making $11.25 an hour to wipe old people's butts…believe me when I say that in the end it's worth it (I'm making a little over a thousand dollars each month). ;)**

**Hahaha, sorry about that random note. Anyways, yeah….I'm really sorry for the long wait only for this to end up being a sort of filler chapter. In all honesty, I've kinda lost interest in this fandom overall. It's sad, but hey! It had a pretty good run! I mean, it lasted since 2009. Yep, and all the interest ended up leaving me back in the middle of October last year (2011). However, like I stated on my profile, I will not just leave this story hanging! IT WILL HAVE AN ENDING!**

**[$(1)$]'s Worth of Music****: I've been really obsessed with this song: Plans by **_**Plug In Stereo**_**. They're another acoustic band. :D Bahahaha! I will **_**never**_** get sick of that genre!**

** www. aimini (dot com) /view/?fid=Du3sTW5OWrcThmKKPrTU **


	24. Chapter 23 Bringing Back Palutena

**Chapter 23: Bringing Back Palutena**

**Author's Note****: Okay, I've finally gotten the time to write this chapter…I'm sorry for how long it took to finish it. I had no drive to continue writing this story, and I was going through some rough moments regarding my future, so of course it was gonna take some time for me to get off of this hiatus. I was just really not expecting it to be a six month long wait. I sincerely apologize for that. **** Anyways, I'm getting this thing updated before I head off to Cancun in a couple of days so…whoopee! Plus, it was one of my New Year resolutions to get this thing finished before I head back to college for the spring semester. :P**

**And yeah, not-so-creative title. I'm sorry. I really did try to put a lot of thought into it, but this is the only poop my mind could come up with for this chapter.**

**I hope you ENJOY!**

* * *

**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

As the day went by, I was allowed to leave the infirmary after my four-hour-long nap and I noticed that things around Angel Land seemed to change. The angels were acting more cheery and hopeful, Pit was running around ordering people to do this and do that with Julius trailing behind him, and I was confused out of my mind. Did something happen that I wasn't aware of?

"_I am afraid that I am unable to answer your question_," Palutena responded unnecessarily to me mentally.

"Thanks for trying," I answered aloud.

"_Anytime!_" I could practically see the smile on her face. Sighing, I looked around the plaza that I stopped in the middle of. As I said before, angels were running around with happy looks on their faces. I was tempted to stop one, but I felt like that would be rude of me to butt in on other people's business so I kept to myself…no matter how awkward that kinda made me feel at the moment.

"Hey!" a sudden child-like shout interrupted my inner dispute. Looking around, I noticed a small familiar figure running towards me.

"Oh, hi Olivia!" I replied with the same amount of enthusiasm as she stopped in front of me gasping for air as her small wings flapped behind her. "What's up?" I asked, crouching down to her level.

"You mean you weren't told?!" she practically shouted her response. The prominence in her tone made me feel nervous.

"Told what?"

"My mommy said that the Angel Council may have found a way to bring Palutena back! Everybody is in much higher spirits now because of that." Shock was probably seen on my face because then she continued to say, "I guess you weren't told, huh?" I shook my head 'no'.

"I was sleeping in the infirmary for the past four hours, so I wasn't really _able_ to be told anything." She giggled before looking up at me with twinkling eyes.

"Do you know what they are doing? Because I have no idea. All Mommy told me was that they were using alchemichism, or something like that, to make Palutena's body appear again. Like magic!" she yelled, waving her hands around for emphasis while softly muttering 'oooh'. I chuckled before what she said finally registered in my mind. My eyes widened at the prospect of Palutena being able to live with her angels again.

"_No wonder everyone is running around in excitement_," I thought to myself. "_They're glad to finally have their goddess back._" Happiness began to stir inside me as I realized that these angels could finally have a happy ending to all of this madness. The demons are gone, as far as we all know, and now the angels get to have their goddess return to them once more. Wind blew across the plaza as I stood up from my crouched position.

"Olivia, you wouldn't happen to know where Pit is, would you?"

"General Pit? Nope, I don't know. I'm not interested in all of that policle stuff." I quickly put my thinking cap on and soon realized that I would have to ask around to see if anyone had seen him lately.

Shooting a kind smile towards Olivia I stated, "I'm gonna go find Pit! Maybe I'll see you later Olivia!" She quickly gave me a grin in return.

"Okay! Bye Tiffany!" I heard her yell as I ran towards the palace.

* * *

**Julius' P.O.V.**

"Julius, what else do we need in order for this plan to work?" Pit asked excitedly. I, on the other hand, was just hoping it actually _would_ work.

"Well, we've got the soil from the Overworld, Palutena's staff, her dress and other clothes, the potion, all four candles are in place, the spell has been cast, and the summoning circle has been drawn…I think the only thing we need now is just Palutena's soul." It was true. Everything was already set up. Palutena's clothes were laid out on the floor over the circle drawn from chalk. The Overworld dirt circled around it and the four candles were lit and placed in a square shape around the summoning 'ring' as well.

"Which is inside Tiffany," Pit muttered, more to himself rather than to everyone.

"Yes, it is." The sound of sandals clacking down the hallway brought us away from the conversation to look and see that Tiffany was running toward us.

"Hey guys!" she yelled. When she reached us, she slowly came to a stop. Bringing a hand up, she scratched the back of her head abashedly as she asked, "Did I miss anything? I feel like I'm sleeping all the time." The last part was muttered, but I heard it. A chuckle escaped my lips, causing her to look up at me with a grin. Suddenly her eyes looked up as if she were thinking of something. "Well, I'm sorry but it's not my fault that I keep getting knocked out. I'm only human!" Pit and I give her confused glances until she finally looks over at us, a grin spreading out on her lips once more. Pointing to her head, she stated, "Palutena."

"Oh, that reminds me!" I say, quickly being reminded of the matter at hand. "I may have found a way to release her from your body."

"Really?" she asked interestedly. "What is it?"

"It's what humans here call 'alchemy'. Have you ever heard of it?"

"…Not sure that I have."

"Well then I won't bore you with the details." Placing a hand gently on her back, I led her over to the circle drawn from chalk. She sent, what I presume to be, an uneasy glance towards Pit who simply shrugged in response. "Basically, all you have to do is stand in the middle of the circle and drink this," I stated, holding up the red drink to her. She took it from my hands slowly, as if unsure what to think of all of this.

"And you're sure this is going to work?" Tiffany asked, her voice quivering in fear.

"Well…no. We've never done anything quite like this before. But at this point…" I trailed off, not quite willing to finish the statement.

"At this point we're desperate to get our Goddess back," Pit cut in. Silence filled the room before Tiffany broke it.

"Yeah, I understand that…but at what cost?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh gee, I don't know. To be perfectly honest, this circle looks like you're about to perform witch-craft, and did you even do your research on the effects that this potion may have on me and Palutena?"

"If it makes you feel any better, yes. I did in fact research this and in truth…nothing in the books stated anything about side-effects and such so I'm assuming that the spell-"

"Ugh, you should never assume." She looked up at the ceiling, avoiding my gaze.

"What? Why?" The questions spluttered out of my mouth.

"Because, it makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'," she replied with a joking grin.

"Oh, haha," I said, pretending to laugh.

"That was actually pretty good," Pit replied with a chuckle from his side of the circle. Shooting him a cursory glance, I look back at Tiffany pleadingly and start pushing her towards the circle.

"May we please try this?" Stepping slowly towards the circle, the human girl kept her eyes on me as she pivoted her whole body in my direction, stopping us in the process. Keeping her face poker, she stared at me as if pondering over what I just said. Who knows? Maybe she is. These intergalactic humans are just confusing to me.

"Alright," she replied in nothing short of a whisper. Continuing the last of the trek to the middle of the circle, carefully maneuvering around the little obstacles, Tiffany looks around the room, and then into the cup, before gazing up at me once more. "I have to drink all of it?" I nod, giving her the okay to do the action. She sniffs it, scrunches her nose up in disgust, and then brings the edge of the glass to her lips before tipping it back.

Looking at me expectantly, nothing seems to happen for a few seconds. And then the circle below Tiffany's feet starts to glow red and she suddenly bends over, hands on her knees, gasping for breath.

"Tiffany? Are you alright?" I asked hesitantly.

"I feel…like I gotta…hurl."

"Hurl? What does that mean? You have to throw something?" Seeing the glass in her hand, I shriek and run over to Pit's side, my wings flapping wildly behind me. "You better not throw that glass at me!"

"No, not…like that. I gotta…"

"What do you have to do?" Pit asked calmly, as if the human girl before us wasn't looking about ready to pass out.

"I feel as if…I'm gonna…upchuck."

"…Up-what?" Pit inquired with a quirked brow.

"Up yours," she muttered to herself. Good thing Pit didn't hear it; at least I presume he didn't, because I think that was some kind of insult. "You guys…really need to…modernize yourselves." Suddenly the poor girl sat herself down, none-too-gently, and soon after laid herself out flat on the floor. Her bodily joints then began to shudder, as if she were being electrocuted.

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she let out a groan of pain. Body convulsing in on itself, she seemed to all but lose consciousness. Feeling scared, I looked over at Pit in desperation. I don't know why I felt like he might have the answers. At that point, my angelic nature came out, making me look up to my superior at the time of desperation.

Suddenly a large amount of light seemed to gather on the floor next to her. Upon closer inspection, I noticed what looked like a body floating up from the floor…but it wasn't just any body. Pit gasped next to me as my eyes widened in shock. Palutena's body formed itself. "_Does that mean that…_"

Looking over at Tiffany's trembling body, I see a small amount of light fly up from her mouth and gently float there for a second before it made its way over to Palutena's unmoving body and entered through her slightly ajar mouth. As soon as the star-like object left Tiffany's mouth, her body stopped shaking.

Time seemed to all but stop as Pit and I stared at the circle as it stopped glowing. Holding in a breath, I walked over to the two bodies to see if they were alright. Pit walked cautiously behind me, as if expecting a fight to suddenly break out.

A groan stopped me from moving any closer. Looking at Palutena's body, I noticed that it seemed to move on its own. To be perfectly honest, I was a little scared…not of the body suddenly being a 'zombie', but of failure.

"My head," 'Palutena' said as she sat up fully, holding a hand up to her forehead. "Wait…_my_ head." Bringing her hands up to her face to examine herself, the goddess' green eyes inspected every detail of her body. Holding her green hair between two fingers, letting her hands glide across her legs, she scrutinized every detail to make sure that what she was seeing and feeling was true. Upon looking at her nails on her right hand, the goddess' green eyes looked past the small appendages and at Pit and I. A smile spread across her lips as she said, "It actually worked." A swell of pride fluttered around in my stomach as I grinned in my achievement.

"Palutena," Pit stated proudly, eyes glistening wet with newly formed tears. "Goddess of Light. Welcome back."

* * *

**Author's Note****: Olivia's character is fun to write. She's an angel, a girl, and a child all in one. So basically she is innocence reincarnate. XD That being said, it gives me the freedom to make up fun words like alchemichism and policle! In case you didn't catch it, she meant to say alchemy and political, but hey. She was close enough in my opinion!**

**This is my least favorite chapter…by far. I put little to no effort in it, and it can clearly be seen. Truthfully, I would've given up on the story…if it weren't for the fact that I'm a person true to my word and finish what I start. Lol So I'm sorry if this disappoints. I know that last bit with the…hehehe, 'alchemy' is a bit hard to understand. Trust me when I say, even **_**I**_** don't know what's going on…and I'm the author. XD Let's just say that that's the part that made this chapter so freakin' difficult to write.**

**On a funny side-note...I like how Tiffany was just forgotten in the end. XD Hahaha, totally can't tell that I just wanted to hurry up and get this thing out to you all right?**

**Anyways guys, only one more chapter to go (and I already have it typed up so don't worry about it)! Sorry if I seem like I don't care for this story anymore…I do…but at the same time I just want to see it get finished. :P I hate having that nagging feeling at the back of my mind telling me that I'm evil for making you guys wait this long to finally get a chapter. So since next chapter is the very last chapter, expect a faster update (mostly because it's already done, lol)! That chapter I have had stuck in my head since I came up with this story (which was somewhere around two years ago), so yeah.**

**Also, I will put up a facts page regarding this story and the information in it afterwards.**

**And can you believe I STILL haven't played this game yet?! Ahh *beep*! I'm so behind you guys!**

**[$(1)$]'s Worth of Music****: This next song I'm going to introduce to you guys (if you haven't already heard it) is called 'Party In My Head' by **_**September**_**. This lady is a UK artist, so those of you from there may have already heard this song. Hahaha, I first heard it when I went into a clothing store at the mall. I couldn't get it out of my head for the rest of that day.**

** www. Aimini (.net) /view/?fid=iyoApNOjTyk4vJvjgYJe **

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see ya next time!**


	25. Chapter 24 Heading Home

**Chapter 24: Heading Home**

**Author's Note****: HERE IT IS GUYS! THE FINAL CHAPTER! As I said before, I've had this part of the story planned out since the beginning, so it was rather easy to write. I didn't have to sit in front of the computer and think on what to write down next. Also, umm….I kinda had a little bit too much fun with this one. The whole thing seems kinda like I wrote it on crack but really that's just Tiffany being in character. XD And yet, I feel like my writing has evolved so much over these two years. Bahaha!**

**So with that said…**

**I hope you…**

**ENJOY!...**

**FOR THE LAST TIME!**

* * *

**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

Waking up from being unconscious…for the umpteenth time since I've been here…I groggily opened my eyes and looked around the room that I was in. It just so happened to be the same hospital room that I always ended up in. I could tell because the buildings outside my window didn't appear like they'd moved from the last time I'd been in here.

Wow…

You know it's a sad day when you can say that you remember the scenery outside the hospital room that you always end up in.

Anyways…something seemed off.

"Why do I feel different?" I asked myself. "Like I feel alone?" A sudden thought came into my mind. Why wasn't Palutena answering my random questions like she usually did?

"_Palutena?_" I asked inwardly to see if she would reply. No such luck. Silence was all that greeted me. I waved it goodbye as I continued to question her. "_Palutena? Are you there?_" Silence continued to ring my doorbell as I started to panic. Where was she?! Was she okay?! Did the angels' plan work?!

Throwing the thin white hospital blanket off of me, I stood up from the bed and walked over to the window to see if anything was happening outside. What I saw shocked me. Absolutely no one was outside. Not a single angel in sight.

"Did something bad happen to Palutena?" Then I started to wonder…and my eyes widened in panic.

"Did something bad happen to me?! Am I in a parallel universe where I'm the only one that exists?!" I yelled out the window to no one in particular.

"Oh good you're awake," a quiet voice said behind me.

"Ahh!" I screamed, unable to contain the fear that sprang up from within me. I jumped and spun around to find out that the person who walked in on me during my little episode was the secretary girl from the other day. Had it already been another day? Eh, I was assuming so. Unable to say a word, I just stood there frozen, holding a hand to my chest and my eyes still as large as dinner plates.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," she said in the most ethereal voice I'd ever heard. Wait, even more so than Palutena?! Yeah, probably. Now I was even more confused. How come I'd never noticed this in her voice before? "You look confused. May I ask why?" she asked, cocking her head to the side in curiosity.

"Your voice…it sounds different."

"Oh, that's because our goddess has been returned to us meaning our land, including ourselves, have regained the magic that we had all once lost." A comfortable silence settled itself around us as I took in the information.

"Then that would mean," I began, still thinking as I was talking, "that Palutena is okay and that whole stunt we all did actually worked!" A grin spread on the secretary's face as she nodded her head 'yes'.

"It is a glorious day in Angel Land!" she stated happily, whether it was to me or to someone else, I have no idea. Her wings fluffed out at her ecstatic outburst, making her slightly hover above the ground for a second before she gracefully dropped back to the floor.

"Yeah," I started up again. "Anyways. I'm guessing that you know where she is then?"

"Why she's in her palace of course! Actually, that is where everyone is. They're all, how you humans would say, 'gettin down and jiggy with their bad selves'." I had to stifle a laugh as I turned and began heading out of the room, yelling 'thanks' to her.

When I reached the doorway, though, I paused and turned toward her. "Oh, and for the record, that's _not_ what humans my age would say. That's what our _grandparents_ said back in their heyday." I let out a small giggle as I turned and headed down the hallway that I had become accustomed to over my stay here in Angel Land. The secretary just stood in her place with a confused frown on her face.

**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

Running across town to reach the palace, I saw a couple of guards standing at attention at the entrance to the large monumental structure. One of them, seeing me from quite a distance away, waved largely as a gesture of saying 'hi'.

"Hello!" the guard waving, a girl, shouted across the plaza as I finally reached them. Slightly out of breath, I replied curtly.

"Hi." I took one large breath before continuing to speak. "Is something going on? Where is everybody?"

"They are all inside welcoming back Goddess Palutena," the other angel, a male, answered my question. "By the way, thank you for helping to bring her back."

"No problem," I replied with a smile.

"Oh! Did you want to perhaps go inside?" the girl asked as if she just remembered something.

"Yes please." The doors opened soundlessly, allowing me to slip inside without being noticed. I looked down the hallway in surprise. Guards were lined all the way down the hall, weapons in hand. I would've felt intimidated if it weren't for the fact that I just did these guys a huge favor. They're welcome. Inwardly chuckling to myself, I proceeded to walk down the corridor, not letting anything stop me from finally meeting the woman who was trapped inside of me all these years. Well, okay. The only thing that stopped me was when the first pair of soldiers that I passed straightened up even more so than they already were. I gave them both a curious look before proceeding down the hall. Each time I passed another set of soldiers, they stood up even straighter than they were before. "_Why are they all doing this?!_" I thought as I finally reached the door at the end of the hall. Now one more thing stopped me.

What do I do now?

Am I supposed to knock on the door or something? Shout that I'm here? Slam the door open and make a scene? Apparently the two guards closest to the door understood the turmoil going on inside my head because they proceeded to wordlessly walk past me and grab the door handles before swinging the wooden obstruction out of the way, letting me see what was inside the room.

Music, dancing, and feathers. Those were the things that stuck out the most to me when I looked into the rather large room. Angels flew from one end of the room to the next, letting feathers fall to the floor and litter it with their fluffiness. Harps, trumpets, and flutes were playing beautiful music that the angels were all joyously dancing along to. Some were dancing on the floor…while others danced around in mid-air, gliding around the room with their dance partners in, what appeared to be, sunlight that bathed the room. This light, however, was coming from the angels themselves. So it seems they truly had gotten all of their full power back.

Everything seemed harmoniously perfect in this moment.

But I felt completely out of place. Without trying to cause a scene, I stepped into the room, letting the two guards shut the door behind me. It clicked shut, but nobody paid it any mind. Walking through the feathers, while picking some out of my hair, I mindlessly made my way around the room trying desperately to find someone that I knew. I was knocked out of my mindless stupor when someone bumped into me from behind. Whipping around, I started to apologize until I saw who it was.

"Julius?" I asked with a quirked brow.

"Tiffany! You're here!" Julius yelled happily as he pulled me into a hug. I laughed as I hugged him back.

"Yeah I'm here." As we parted, I looked at him with a grin. "So where's the star of the party?"

"She's sitting on her throne, watching over everyone," Julius replied over the music, pointing over towards the head of the room. Sure enough, there she was in all of her glory, with Pit right by her side. Palutena smiled as she looked around the room, happy that her angels were joyful once again. "Oh and Tiffany," Julius continued, bringing my attention back to him. "I'm terribly sorry that I couldn't be there when you woke up. I made sure to leave someone there so that you'd know where to go, but still. I feel awful." I shook my head and waved my hands at him in a gesture that said I didn't mind.

"It's okay Julius, really. I found my way over here just fine, so don't worry about it." He brushed a hand through his blonde locks as he sighed.

"Alright, whatever you say Tiffany. Anyways, Palutena said earlier that she was excited to finally meet you face to face, so you'd better get over there and say hi." He smiled as he pushed me in her general direction. I laughed and proceeded to make my own way over to the goddess. It was funny because it was almost as if the angels dancing around knew I was there subconsciously because a clear path was suddenly made from me to Palutena. The gap in the crowd drew Palutena's eyes towards me, making me falter in my steps only to end up stopping completely.

Green eyes met hazel as we stared at each other in silence. Suddenly, a smile grew on her lips as she stood up from her chair and walked down the stairs towards the dance floor. I, being as awesome as I was, continued to stand in place; feet glued to the floor. It wasn't my fault though okay?! I had a mental freak-out! I mean, come on, the lady was glowing! My mind was having the hardest time processing that as a figment of my imagination or if she was seriously made up of some incredible power.

But then again…she is a goddess. Wow…you know, you'd think I'd figure out at some point that I should just go with the flow in this world.

"I really wish I knew what you were thinking at this moment dear."

Oh my God, that voice. My eyes widened as familiarity struck me, but at the same time…it sounded too heavenly to be her. So it couldn't be, right? Looking up, I found Palutena, barely five feet away from me, with a beautiful smile on her face as she chuckled at my expression. Feeling a hand graze against my cheek, I felt my face be pulled towards my left, causing me to look straight into the blue eyes of Pit.

"You might want to pick up your jaw from the ground there miss," he said as he helped close my mouth with his left hand. "Wouldn't want it to get stuck that way." Now that I looked at him, he did seem a little different. He had a brighter angelic glow around him, but he also had a slightly different personality. He seemed…happier…but also a little cocky. "You look shocked. Impressed with what you see?" he asked with a raised brow.

"_Oh yeah_," I thought, "_definitely cocky_."

"That depends on if I believe what I'm seeing," I counter with a smirk. As Pit pouted playfully, I let my gaze travel back to the goddess standing before me. My smirk changed into a sincere smile as I stepped toward her of my own accord. "It's nice to finally 'meet' you Palutena." Seeing Pit's body stiffen a little out of the corner of my eye, I was reminded that I was talking to a goddess. Not some long-lost friend. However, looking at the goddess' reaction, it seemed to me that she didn't care, so I jokingly said, "I'm sorry. I'm not familiar with your godly rules so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to greet you." She just laughed in response.

"I don't expect anything more from you dear…especially since you are not of this world." A thought seemed to cross her mind as she stated this. "Actually, that reminds me." I looked up at her curiously, waiting patiently for her to continue. "We need to send you back home." My straight faced expression turned into one of shock as I was reminded of my home. I'd forgotten all about it. Good thing Palutena froze time in my universe or else I would've probably been 'missing' for about a week.

"I guess so," I said with a tired sigh. Looking down to the floor, I let my mind wander to my family. I didn't realize how much I missed them until now. While I was thinking, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Pit seemed to disappear. Where to, I have no idea. "Hey, where'd Pit go?" I asked Palutena. She simply shrugged.

"I saw him run out of the room, but I have no idea why he left. Anyways, about getting you home," she continued, "we'll have to make a portal in the seeing-fountain room since I need to have a somewhat mental and physical connection to get you there."

"It sounds good to me. I just need to know when and how I'm going to get there."

"Well, I'm going to need time to create the portal, so I won't be able to send you back to your home world until tomorrow morning. As for how you get to the fountain room, I'll just have Julius show you where it's located."

"Okay, looks like we have a plan." I turned toward the crowd, ready to enjoy the party, but Palutena's voice stopped me from walking away any further.

"Yes, we do. Oh, and just so that you are aware, once I send you home, you will not remember anything that happened here."

With that said she let the party continue, with me standing stiff next to her in shock from what she'd just told me.

"_I'll forget everything?_" I thought to myself sadly.

**3****rd**** Person P.O.V.**

As the party finished wrapping up, angels left to go home, but not before they said goodbye to the Goddess on their way out. Eventually, Tiffany was escorted back to the original bedroom she was given back on the day she was first brought to Angel Land.

Lying down on the fluffy (possibly down-filled) comforter, Tiffany released a sigh in contemplation, deciding to think over what exactly she would do once she returned home. "_Well, Palutena said that she froze time in my world, so…" _And then she remembered that she still had a Chemistry quiz that she needed to take.

"_Crap_," she thought to herself nervously. "_I'm so gonna fail it. I don't even remember what we discussed in class anymore_." Eyes flickering over to the large glass doors leading out to the balcony, Tiffany watched as the large stars twinkled brightly above the cloudy landscape. It was beautiful. The sight of it alone sent her into a lonely dreamscape with no one in her thoughts to keep her company.

**Tiffany's P.O.V.**

**~~~ (**_**10 hours later**_**) ~~~**

As I entered the main room, I found angels lined up against the walls; some were civilians of Skyworld while others were the actual army members in their uniforms. Walking down the middle isle, I looked from side to side in curiosity. Standing against the wall to my right, I saw Ophelia waving like crazy to get my attention. I gave her a smile and a small wave of the hand in response.

Continuing to walk ahead, two guards stepped out of the way to this fountain thing-a-ma-jig…I really don't remember what Palutena described it as, but I have to admit as soon as I saw it, I was a little dumbfounded.

"_So the thing that's getting me home…is a giant bird bath?_" I asked myself inwardly, confused on how this was even going to work.

"Hello Tiffany. Are you ready to return home?" Palutena asked from the other side of the small pool of water. Looking up into her green eyes, I could see overwhelming happiness…and yet a twinge of sadness as well. I shrugged as I answered her.

"I guess." Palutena nodded and proceeded to dip the top of her rod-thing into the water. When she took it out, she whipped it around a couple of times, said a few words that I couldn't understand, and then pointed it towards a blank marble wall. A bright blue light shone from it and landed on the wall. As I kept watching I noticed a small circle was beginning to form and grow bigger. I assumed that was the portal that I was going to be transported through.

"Wait!" a boyish voice yelled, stopping Palutena from continuing on.

"Pit? Where have you been?" Palutena questioned, standing her staff straight up with her right hand while placing the other on her hip.

"I was getting this," Pit stated as he proudly held up a small trinket that shined in the midday light. As he jogged his way over to me, I soon recognized it as a bracelet. Wait, why would Pit have a bracelet? He must've seen a questioning look in my eyes, because he then went on to explain, "Consider it a present. This way, you may just remember me."

"Um…wow, thank you Pit." Holding my hand out to take it from him, I soon found my wrist being grabbed by his larger right hand which then pulled me closer toward him. Before I could object, Pit quickly clasped the slim bracelet onto my right wrist. Looking at the object in awe, I almost forgot completely that I was about to be sent home through a swirling vortex. A small cough from Palutena brought my attention back to her. "Oh, sorry," I said sheepishly to the goddess who simply smiled back at me. Looking down at the bracelet once more, I raised my gaze up to the portal and began my small walk towards it.

Standing just a couple feet in front of it, I stopped and looked back at Pit over my shoulder to find that Julius was now right beside him. Giving me a small wave, he smiled solemnly at me. I returned the expression, waved, and then turned back around to the portal and walked the rest of the way into it. A feeling of being sucked in caused my legs to suddenly lose their footing of the ground and my arms to flail wildly as I let out an embarrassing little gasp, falling sideways into the portal. One moment I was standing in front of all of Skyworld, and the next I was looking at them as if through a small restaurant straw. My surroundings seemed to get darker and the portal to Angel Land shrunk quickly as I gained distance between it and myself. Strands of brown hair blocked my vision as I blew through time and space at over 50 miles an hour.

Flying through the vortex, I continued to feel like I was falling. Looking up ahead I saw a distant orb of light that visibly became larger as I fell even further.

"Oh geez," I wailed as I flew through the bright white portal and landed not-so-gracefully on my bed. Bouncing on impact, I was barely able to form a coherent thought. The only things I noticed before I fell asleep were that I was in my bedroom, on my bed, and my alarm clock said it was still around 2:00AM.

**3****rd**** Person P.O.V.**

Sunlight poured into the room through the window and glided across Tiffany's face, causing her to wake up. Grunting in exhaustion, the girl opened her eyes only to squint them back shut due to the sun's brightness. She lifted her body up from her bed, which still had her school books lying on top of the blankets, and looked around her room curiously. Brushing a hand through her hair, Tiffany felt something tickle her wrist, causing her to bring her forearm in front of her face to see what it was.

The gold bracelet on her wrist twinkled in the sunlight as she turned it numerous times in inspection. As Tiffany looked over at her puppy poster that hung proudly on the wall, a smile slowly spread across her face.

~The End~

* * *

**Author's Note****: Question for you guys~! Does Tiffany remember all of what happened to her in Angel Land, or did she forget everything like how Palutena predicted? The answer is kind of obvious, no? XD**

**I know I ended this story with a sort of…ending-that-can-be-continued-upon sort of ending, but I most likely will not write another part to this story. HOWEVER, when the time comes that I actually play Kid Icarus: Uprising and I get a feel for the series all over again, I may possibly make a second 'book'. But for now, don't expect it to happen.**

**Anyways, I hope this story was to everyone's liking! If there was something I could've improved upon (which I definitely know there is), let me know! If there was something I could've added that I didn't and you wished I did, let me know! If there was nothing I could do to improve this incredibly long story that took me 1/9 of my life to write and therefore could only add onto the awesomeness, let me know! Lol I be jk-ing with you guys. XD**

…**I do love positive feedback though. IT MAKES MY DAY, EVERYDAY, TO KNOW THAT I GAVE SOMEONE SOME FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT THAT MADE THEM HAPPY!**

**Huge thank you to everyone that followed along with this story! Especially those who stuck around since the beginning (*cough* two years ago *cough*)…you were all extremely patient with me and should therefore pat yourselves on the back.**

**[$(1)$]'s Worth of Music****: This last song I am showing you guys may not seem too impressive to you all at first. It has to kind of grow on you. It's called 'We're So Far Away' by **_**Mae**_**. If you're into piano-acoustic styles, then you'll love this song! :D In my mind, this is what the ending theme to this story would be. :3 On that last *BLAM!* of the guitar at the end, I can picture Tiffany looking up at the poster on her wall (like she does in the story) and the camera blacking out. Hahaha, yeah.**

** www. aimini (.net) /view/?fid=B2JhC1FCWzxHxD62FDxv **

**Next update will be of random facts regarding this story! Stay tuned if you are curious and want to know them!**


	26. Facts and Statistics (About The Story)

**Fun Facts Page**

_**1**_. I started writing this story a little over three years ago (2008)…so five years? lol…basically when I first started playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I admit it…..I've NEVER played a Kid Icarus game but I wish I did when I was little. This resulted in a lot of research on my part.

_**2**_. The puppy (Bella) in the story is based off of my actual dog. My sister named her based off of the Twilight series (way before the movies started to get obsessed over or hated by people).

_**3**_. I came up with the whole prologue while taking a shower one day. Lol By the way, the prologue was made AFTER the first seven chapters were written.

_**4**_. I got the whole "Nintendo Galaxy" idea from playing Super Mario Galaxy….1 and 2.

_**5**_. At first I had a completely different outlook of the story (a different plot), but then I came up with the prologue. It pretty much involved many different gods and goddesses making appearances to train Tiffany to become a better fighter, but I decided I liked this finished version way better (p.s. the gods and goddesses would've been made up, not the actual ones from Greek mythology).

_**6**_. Earlier in the story I stated that I had to cut a chapter out completely. This was because it wasn't needed and it was extremely long…..I'm not even kidding when I say that it took ten full notebook pages for me to write out. I never even bothered to type it. Basically, the whole idea with it was just a bit more background on Tiffany's life and what her daily routines were before she was kidnapped by Akhos.

_**7**_. The evil leader Ahriman's name was at first going to be Akhos, but it didn't seem evil enough to me. So I just stuck it with his best minion instead.

_**8**_. I picked character's names based entirely off of their meanings in Greek. Lol I'm not complaining though, because that's one creative way to 'Git'r'done!' XD See number nine for more details.

_**9**_. Character's Names and Meanings (in Greek):

**Ahriman** (demon leader) = evil spirit; devil

**Akhos** (Ahriman's main minion) = grief

**Adelphos** (boy twin) = born of the same womb

**Adelpha** (girl twin) = born of the same womb

**Tiffany** (human girl; OC) = the light of god, the coming of god, appearance of god, god's incarnate

**Palutena** (Goddess of Light) = another form of the name Parthena. If you want more info, Google it. :D

**Pit** (Captain of Skyworld's Army and Palutena's protector) = sorry guys, his name doesn't have any meaning…..Nintendo just pulled his name out of their butts. Lol XD

**Salus** (Angel of Health) = Goddess of Health

**Artemas** (Angel of Safety) = Safe

**Hermione** (Angel of Environment) = Earthy

**Julius** (Angel of Learning) = Youthful

**Pennie** (Angel of Business and Marketing) = silent worker

**Darius** (Angel of Finance) = wealthy

**Raphael** (guy angel detective) = God has healed

**Gabriel** (girl angel detective) = Hero of God

**Ophelia** (little angel girl) = help

_**10**_. I know it's bad to pick favorites but I couldn't help it here. My favorite scene is in Chapter 19 – Palutena's Abilities. When Pit was winning in his fight against Ahriman and managed to knock him to the ground. 'With a gleam of victory in his eyes Pit said, "Now you tell me. Whose life is at risk here?"' AHHH! I love that line! I can actually picture him saying something like that. *insert goofy fan girl smile here* :D I'm kidding…..I'm not a totally crazed fan girl…but I am a fan. XD Hence, the Fanfiction!

_**11**_. My favorite chapter would be Chapter 16 – I Hear Dead Goddesses (I still laugh at that title). I really like that chapter because it has a lot more comedy in it than anywhere else in the story even though I tried to spread it all out. Plus it has my second favorite line in this whole story, "I don't think he's buying what I'm selling." That scene makes me grin like an idiot mostly because of Palutena's response to that phrase. XD

_**12**_. Most Viewed Chapter is….the prologue with 989 views! XD Who didn't see this coming?! Lol

_**13**_. Shortest Chapter is Chapter 1 with 770 words.

_**14**_. Longest Chapter is Chapter 15 with 5,946 words.

_**15**_. In Chapter 21 I was gonna have Pit use his new weapons (like the ones from his newest game 'Uprising') for the final battle but then I decided against it. If I were to have him use those, it wouldn't be until the sequel. :P Maybe…..? (P.S. You can still vote….) Besides, I haven't even played the newest game yet, so I wouldn't even know how to begin to describe what the weapons even do. lol

_**16**_. This story has been read by people from over 10 different countries! Holy Schnike's! I never would've thought that would happen….yay! :D

_**17**_. The longest break I took to finally get a chapter out was…I think but I'm not entirely sure…5-7 months. God D**n it! I suck! Feel free to kill me...after I graduate from college…and medical school…and get married…and have kids…and uh…on second thought never mind. Please don't kill me! The story's done anyways! XD

**_18_**. To date, this story has been viewed over 6,000 times in the past three years.

_**19**_. In the end, when they used alchemy to bring Palutena's body back, I had _Fullmetal Alchemist_ stuck in my head while writing it. XD According to that show, they were able to bring their mom's body back, but not her soul (I think...don't murder my low self-esteem if I'm wrong). In order to bring her soul back they would've had to sacrifice another human soul to do it…hence the reason why during the spell, it tried to take both Ed and his brother's bodies. At least, that's what I think happened. Since they stopped it in the middle of the spell, it caused them to lose: Ed's arm and leg, and his little brother's whole body. Dramatic, I know. I used to watch that show, but then I started losing track of where I was in the series and over time I kinda…stopped watching it I guess. Lol

So how this plays a part in this story is that the angels already have Palutena's soul; they just needed to recreate her body. After much research, they found a human-perspective on how to revive their goddess and went for it.

**_20_**. The song mentioned in Chapter 4 (_So Obvious_ by runneRRunner) is the song that I pictured being the theme song for this story. I can still picture what an intro would look like if that were the case. :)

_**21**_. The only chapter to never be given a single review was Chapter 4. All of the rest got at least one.

**Yay! So the story finally came to an end…or did it? Lol, jk guys jk. It did. For now. Until I decide on whether or not to make a sequel. Feel free to continue voting by the way. I'd like to see if people would be interested in reading it later on.**

**Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go and continue writing my 'new' different series "Of Androids and World Wars". If you like Hetalia, then you will like this series. :D**


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